Super Bowl Crowd Size in Tampa Concerns Onlookers Amid Coronavirus Pandemic

The 2021 Super Bowl down in Tampa, Florida has somewhat of a big crowd, and the size of the audience has some onlookers concerned, as the nation is still in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic. The big game — which can be watched for free this year — is being played at Raymond James Stadium, home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who are facing off against the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl. The stadium seats just over 65,000, but for the NFL championship game, only 25,000 have been allowed to attend. For The Win notes that 7,500 of those watching the game in-person are vaccinated healthcare workers.

There are also cardboard cutouts filling the empty seats, which threw many at-home viewers off, as from afar it appeared that these seats were full of real people. While this method had been used by most NFL teams throughout the 2020/2021 season, the fact that viewers did not know it was going to be happening led to a lot of worries about the spread of COVID-19. “I am living for all of these COVID hero tributes in the [Super Bowl], but it seems kinda ironic that the stadiums seem to be packed,” one person tweeted. Scroll down to read more comments about the 2021 Super Bowl audience.

​

“That stadium is PACKED bruh,” one watcher tweeted. “We’re never seeing the end of this pandemic.”

​

“The irony of the NFL praising the hard work of frontline workers in front of a packed stadium,” wrote another person.

​

“Watching the Super Bowl makes me sick to my stomach seeing this huge crowd… yikes… sorry someone had to say it,” one other viewer said.

​

“Wow that’s a big crowd at the super bowl so anyways I heard concerts aren’t coming back anytime soon,” someone else wrote.

​

“Looking at the size of the crowd at the [Super Bowl], I think coronavirus is going to be the real winner here,” a concerned football fan tweeted.

​

“I get that they want the [Super Bowl’ crowd to look ‘normal’ so they included a bunch of cardboard cut-outs, but a stadium seemingly packed full of people is really bad optics right now,” one Twitter user offered.

​

“Seeing the crowd all lit up with the lights is really feeling like I’m watching Covid spreading through the stadium in real time,” a final watcher said.