The Pro Football Hall of Fame says it intends to host a full stadium of fans for its 2021 Hall of Fame Game between the Dallas Cowboys and Pittsburgh Steelers in August.
The organization says it is betting that the coronavirus threat will be over by the time the August 5 game time nears, Outkick reported.
“I think there’s a very good shot that we’ll be the first full stadium for football in the United States in nearly two years,” Hall of Fame President David Baker said. “And, to me, that’s going to be good for the rest of the country and for the football season ahead. It shows that we can get our economy going and our kids educated and make even more advances on health care. But we’re going to be ready.”
Baker added that with the vaccines ramping up, everything is headed toward a resolution. So, he feels that they should be able to dispense with limits on fans for the game scheduled to be held at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, Ohio.
“I think by the time we get to August, we’re gonna be ready to go,” Baker said. “The vaccine is picking up, obviously the trend line is in the right direction right now. I think the NFL has a wonderful study that they did with the CDC that basically said that there wasn’t one infection that could be traced to the 1.2 million people that went to a game.
Benson Stadium can seat 23,000 fans.
He also added that the Hall of Fame had put new technology into place to monitor visitors for temperatures for coronavirus issues. Still, he also said he intends to rely on the NFL to help them keep fans safe.
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