Miami Dolphins games with no fans or very few? Team preparing for various possibilities
The Miami Dolphins are preparing for the worst-case scenarios of having games with no fans or limited capacity at Hard Rock Stadium if the ongoing health crisis makes that necessary, a league source said Monday.
The Dolphins also are preparing for the possibility of having a full stadium this fall, which would be the NFL’s preference if the coronavirus pandemic should allow that.
The idea of playing Dolphins games with 15,000 fans instead of the usual 65,000 was first raised in a report by ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Monday. A source confirmed that scenario is one of several possibilities the team has prepared for.
The Dolphins indicated that decisions on how many fans will be permitted inside Hard Rock Stadium, or whether any fans would be permitted, will be “driven by government guidelines and NFL rules.”
The Dolphins also have been considering other ideas, including:
▪ Having fans pay for tickets, parking, concessions and merchandise without using cash.
▪ Directing fans to enter the stadium in rows that are spread apart more than is traditionally the case, or having fans enter at predetermined times.
▪ Having fans exit the stadium in rows similar to how it is done in church, Dolphins CEO Tom Garfinkel told “Good Morning America.”
The NFL has said the regular-season schedule will be released by Saturday and that the season will be played in full and begin, as scheduled, on Sept. 10, despite the world health crisis.
But the league is planning several contingencies, including a possible delayed start to the season.
“The schedule will come out as normal, but we’re doing reasonable and responsible planning as we always do, inside of game operations,” league executive Troy Vincent told the Associated Press.
As expected, the NFL announced on Monday that five regular-season games scheduled to be played outside the United States - including a Dolphins’ home game in London - will instead be played in the U.S.
The Dolphins’ 2020 home schedule will include games against the New England Patriots, the New York Jets, Buffalo Bills, Los Angeles Rams, Los Angeles Chargers, Cincinnati Bengals, Kansas City Chiefs and Seattle Seahawks.
Also Monday, the Dolphins announced they will become the first stadium in the world to receive Global Biorisk Advisory Council (GBAC) accreditation. GBAC is a Division of ISSA, the worldwide cleaning industry association. This initiative, the Dolphins said, “will serve as the gold standard for facilities to implement cleaning, disinfection and infectious disease prevention work practices to control risks associated with infectious agents.”
Garfinkel said: “When our fans, players and staff are able to return to Hard Rock Stadium, we want them to have peace of mind that we’re doing everything we can to create the safest and healthiest environment possible. We didn’t want to create our own standard, we wanted to be accountable to the most credible third-party standard that exists. Working with GBAC ensures compliance with critical guidelines for the highest standard of cleanliness and it is our hope that other venues will follow suit as we navigate through these unprecedented times.”
This story was originally published May 4, 2020 at 1:00 PM.
