Most NFL fans regularly attending games want stadium COVID vaccine mandate, poll says
This week marks the return of regular-season football, and NFL team owners are itching to get fans back in stadium seats to recover from the financial beating the league took last year thanks to COVID-19.
But how do fans feel? Especially the ones who regularly attend games and scream along with thousands of other people in close proximity.
In a new poll conducted by Morning Consult, 54% of those who commonly attend games “would me more interested in going to a game this season if all fans were required to present proof of vaccination against COVID-19.”
Nineteen percent of those regular attendees said they would be less interested while 27% said they’d be neither more nor less interested.
According to Morning Consult, the poll was conducted Aug. 30-Sept. 2, 2021, among a sample of 2,200 adults based on gender, educational attainment, age, race and region.
Despite the response, only a handful of NFL teams will require vaccination documents to be presented at the stadium. On Tuesday, the Seattle Seahawks joined the Las Vegas Raiders and New Orleans Saints as teams requiring proof of full vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test within a 72-hour window prior to the start of the game, Yahoo Sports reported.
“These measures will allow us to continue with plans to host a full stadium of fans, while still providing a safe and fun experience for our guests,” Seahawks President Chuck Arnold said in a statement. “We urge everyone who is eligible to please get vaccinated.”
With the recent surge in the delta variant, the Pittsburgh Steelers and Philadelphia Eagles are among the teams that have reinstated mask mandates, NBC reported.
During the 2020 NFL season, the league lost almost $4 billion in revenue thanks to COVID-19.
“It was a huge financial hit for us this year, no question about it,” New York Giants co-owner John Mara told CBS in January. “But it’s not going to affect our ability to be active in free agency or to do what we have to do to improve the team. Hopefully this is a one-year thing and we’ll be able to have fans back in the building next season.”
This story was originally published September 8, 2021 at 2:41 PM with the headline "Most NFL fans regularly attending games want stadium COVID vaccine mandate, poll says."