Andy Slater of Fox Sports 640AM South Florida is reporting Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has informed the Miami Dolphins moving forward they are allowed to have full capacity of 65,000 fans at their home games. The Miami Dolphins then announced for their next home game on October 25th they will stick with the 13,000 fan limit. No word on future home games beyond Oct 25th at this time.
SLATER SCOOP: Miami Dolphins have been given clearance to go to full capacity of 65,000 fans at Hard Rock Stadium, Gov. DeSantis’ spokesperson tells me.
The team, though, says their current plan of 13,000 fans remains the same for their next home game on Oct. 25.
— Andy Slater (@AndySlater) October 7, 2020
To say this is a questionable decision from the Governor is an understatement to say the least. Many areas are seeing a spike in COVID cases, the White House (including the President himself) have had a huge outbreak in the past week, and America is far from out of the woods on handling the COVID crisis. Not to mention the Dolphins had to stop the sale of popcorn previous to this week’s game vs Seattle as fans were using the food item as a way around the Hard Rock Stadium mask policy.
The Dolphins also have had issues selling the 13,000 tickets they have set for their first two home games. Week 2 vs Buffalo only 11,000 or so fans were in attendance and about 1/3 were Bills fans. This past week only 12,369 fans were announced as in attendance. Many can and bring it with them. I am not sure there are a lot of fans who want to see live football in person at this time in South Florida so even if the Dolphins agreed to let 65,000 fans in, I think getting much more than the 13,000 or so to actually show up would be a struggle.
The Miami Dolphins couldn't sell Popcorn because fans were abusing the "mask policy" now the Governor of Florida is telling the team they can have 65,000 fans if they want. Does he want to create a super spreader event? This is lunacy.
— DolphinsTalk.com (@DolphinsTalk) October 7, 2020
An event with 65,000 fans could be a serious super spreader event that would have ramifications in the South Florida region and COVID cases in the area. The Governor also is allowing the Jacksonville Jaguars and Tampa Bay Buccaneers to be at full capacity as well with their games moving forward. No word from either team how they will handle this.
More on this story as it develops.
