In a normal year, every seat at the host stadium of the Super Bowl would be filled. The suites and luxury sections would be packed. But, obviously, this isn’t a normal year.
Sunday’s Super Bowl LV at Raymond James Stadium between the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers allowed around 25,000 fans to attend. And out of those 25,000 fans, there would be 7,500 vaccinated healthcare workers.
While allowing that many people to congregate at a stadium during a pandemic still posed the legitimate risk for a superspreader event, many viewers thought the NFL was holding a game at full capacity.
Yet, the majority of seats were not occupied by people. They were cardboard cutouts.
Feels like a Super Bowl. Cutouts fill in empty seats, plenty of noise and energy. pic.twitter.com/rVBn2lw5UY
— Sam Mellinger (@mellinger) February 7, 2021
In the days leading up to the game, the NFL sold 30,000 cardboard cutouts to present to appearance of a full stadium. On TV and in photos, it would give the feel of a typical Super Bowl atmosphere even though the stadium was mostly empty. The cutouts were sold for $100 each.
Well, someone did too good of a job with the cutouts because the stadium really did look packed. The optics of that “packed” stadium were not great, considering this is a pandemic that has already claimed 462,000 lives in the U.S.
covid watching america have a super bowl with a packed stadium: pic.twitter.com/J3KG8nucM1
— alex (@steven_lebron) February 7, 2021
The irony of the NFL praising the hard work of frontline workers in front of a packed stadium.
— Pearl Mae with the Cabbage (@Mz2euceBOSS) February 7, 2021
How coronavirus is looking at this packed Super Bowl stadium pic.twitter.com/tYF5QQCCAi
— Rich (@UptownDCRich) February 7, 2021
There is nothing more USA and NFL than like an hour’s worth of solemn tributes to half a million lives lost and our warrior healthcare workers before the #SuperBowl — followed by ten gazillion people packed into a stadium together.
— Heather Hogan (@theheatherhogan) February 7, 2021
That stadium is PACKED bruh 😭 we’re never seeing the end of this pandemic
— Dania von Weber (@queend236) February 7, 2021
I am living for all of these COVID hero tributes in the #SuperBowl , but it seems kinda ironic that the stadiums seem to be packed 😅
— Sarah Marie (@lasarahgee) February 7, 2021
