No fans will be allowed to attend Carolina Panthers’ season finale vs. Saints
The Carolina Panthers have reduced capacity at Bank of America Stadium to 1,500 for the final game of the season vs. the New Orleans Saints. This means that no fans will be in attendance for the game outside of families and friends of the Panthers and Saints and limited private suites that will be open.
“This decision was made as a result of ongoing conversation with local government and public health officials and a review of the latest COVID-19 data and guidance,” said Mark Hart, Tepper Sports & Entertainment vice president and chief operating officer, in a statement. “As we have done throughout this season, we look forward to providing a safe and enjoyable game day experience for all those in attendance.”
The game is scheduled for 4:25 p.m. Sunday on FOX.
Mecklenburg County Health Director Gibbie Harris had been consulting with the team prior to Monday’s announcement.
“I agree with the decision made by the Panthers,” Harris said in a statement. “A smaller crowd lowers the risk of spread as well as reducing the risk to employees, working staff, outside contractors and others at the game.”
Ticketmaster took down the available tickets to the game on its website Monday afternoon.
The team’s first game of the season was not attended by any fans based on state and local restrictions, outside of a small group in the field-level bunker suites. Under North Carolina’s current restrictions, spectators at professional and collegiate sporting events at large outdoor facilities (defined as those with a seating capacity of 10,000 or more) are limited to 7% of the facility’s total seating capacity to curb the spread of COVID-19, which is 5,240 for the Panthers.
The team, which had been working on the plan to have fans at games since March, had been having higher than the 7% allowed by law since November after receiving special permission from Governor Roy Cooper, starting in November. The season-high attendance at Bank of America Stadium was 5,815 on Nov. 15 in the Panthers’ game vs. the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
“I saw some of the game on TV the other day and, you know, you can see the small number of fans, based on the size of the stadium, and how spread out they are,” Harris told The Observer earlier this month. “I do believe the Panthers have done a good job. They’ve managed that situation very well. They’ve been very careful, and they’ve put a number of things in place to space people out and prevent potential exposure.”
Throughout the six home games that had outside fans in attendance, tickets were required to be purchased in pods to support physical distancing with groups of 2-5 people. They were located in every other row with at least two seats between groups.
Fans were given the option of pre-ordering concessions, hand sanitizer was located throughout the stadium, concourses were split into two lanes going opposite directions with fans always asked to stay on the right side and face coverings were required.
Harris expressed some concern about having fans in attendance for the ACC Championship game at Bank of America Stadium due to fans coming in from a variety of locations, but 5,240 fans were allowed.
The Duke’s Mayo Bowl between Wake Forest and Wisconsin, scheduled for 12:30 p.m. Wednesday at Bank of America Stadium, has also restricted capacity to about 1,500, which will consist of family and friends.
PSL owners who purchased a ticket for the game have the option of receiving a refund or applying payment to their 2021 invoice. Those owners who purchased tickets to the Saints game as part of a two-game package in September that included the team’s Oct. 18 game vs. the Chicago Bears.
An automatic refund of all single-game ticket purchases through Ticketmaster will be applied to the same method of payment used to purchase tickets within 30 days of Monday’s announcement.
This story was originally published December 28, 2020 at 5:04 PM.
