The New Orleans Saints have announced that they’ll be rolling back capacity at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome for their Week 15 matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Saints were set to allow a max capacity of 15,000 fans under a tiered-plan amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, but due to rising cases across the country, they’ve come to a new agreement with local health officials. The game set to be played between the Chiefs and Saints at 3:25 p.m. CT on December 20th will have a further reduced capacity, allowing just 3,000 fans to attend. The team cites predetermined thresholds related to COVID-19 as the cause for this rollback.
The Chiefs will play against the Miami Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium in Week 14. The Dolphins are still set to host around 13,000 fans at their stadium as they’ve done all season. Arrowhead Stadium also remains open for around 17,000 fans, though they’ve been hovering around the 14,000 range without sellout crowds.
It’s worth noting that New Orleans has only lost a single home game this season, in Week 3 against the Green Bay Packers. The Saints were not yet cleared to allow fans to attend that game, so they played it in front of an empty stadium. They’ve since hosted between 3,000 and 6,000 fans for various home games.
This move to reduce stadium capacity in New Orleans comes as the NFL makes its final push toward the postseason. There has been much talk about the potential for a postseason bubble due to the rising COVID-19 cases around the country, but the league is determined to push through and finish out the season without any sort of bubble.
