He realizes it’s not ultimately the NFL’s call, but Commissioner Roger Goodell says he expects fans to be allowed at full capacity for the 2021 season.

According to ESPN, Goodell had this to say while taking questions from reporters after the first day of a virtual two-day meeting with owners:

All of us in the NFL want to see every one of our fans back. Football is simply not the same without fans, and we expect to have full stadiums in the upcoming season.

Obviously, some teams are going to have to get local municipalities to sign off on allowing fans. But, with vaccines being rolled out at a steady rate, there’s a good chance the league will get the go-ahead to have fans in full attendance.

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As much as teams want fans in the stands to return to some sort of normalcy, it’s also a business decision. Attendance was more than 90% below average in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with revenue dropping accordingly. Altogether, a total of 1.2 million fans were in attendance for the entire season.

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