Watch Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Chicago Bears live on Sky Sports NFL from 12.30am on Thursday night
Thursday 8 October 2020 10:37, UK
The Miami Dolphins do not intend to allow more than 13,000 fans to attend at Hard Rock Stadium, despite the go-ahead to fill it to capacity.
Florida has moved into Phase 3 of its reopening phase, which repealed the requirement that businesses operate at limited capacity amid the coronavirus pandemic.
But Delphins CEO Tom Garfinkel told ESPN the organisation will continue with its comfort level, which is 20 per cent of the 65,000 stadium capacity.
"We'll continue to follow CDC guidelines and put everyone's safety first and monitor things as they go," Garfinkel said. "Right now with positivity rates where they are, we feel that we can keep people safe in a socially-distanced environment, which is our 13,000 capacity."
Garfinkel's comments came the same day Florida surpassed 15,000 deaths from coronavirus complications. In all, the state Department of Health reported 2,548 new cases, bringing the state total to 722,707.
Neither the Tampa Bay Buccaneers nor the Jacksonville Jaguars have announced increased capacity following the move into Phase 3. College programmes also have not commented on any attendance changes.
Governer Ron DeSantis is in favour of filling stadiums. He said last month that Tampa will welcome Super Bowl LV and the crowds it brings in February.
"We're going to be able to host the Super Bowl in February. We expect to do a full Super Bowl," DeSantis said. "We're going to show that we're going to be able to do that."
