Polling Indicates Fans Ready to Return to Sports Venues

With the Big Ten returning tonight and the Pac-12 returning next week, the sports world has fully returned, but things are hardly "normal." The next front that needs to be addressed is allowing fans to return to the stands. Some teams have already permitted stadiums to reopen with reduced capacity. We have seen fans at SEC, Big 12, and ACC venues, as well as with some teams in the NFL and the World Series in Arlington.

Morning Consult conducted a poll which revealed how sports fans view the prospect of watching games in person. The poll finds that a majority of sports fans who regularly attend games would be comfortable going to outdoor sporting events with 50 percent capacity and indoor sporting events with 25 percent capacity:






The polling also reveals that mask requirements and the availability of hand sanitizer dispensers would help make fans more comfortable attending games.

These results may be surprising given the coverage of COVID. However, the poll essentially confirms what we already knew: if sporting events are permitted to have fans, fans will attend. The prevailing question is what local regulators will do.



Written by
Ryan Glasspiegel grew up in Connecticut, graduated from University of Wisconsin-Madison, and lives in Chicago. Before OutKick, he wrote for Sports Illustrated and The Big Lead. He enjoys expensive bourbon and cheap beer.