UPDATE: The NFL formally announced there will be 25,000 fans physically in attendance and an additional 30,000 cutouts fans can purchase (that revenue goes to charity).
The NFL announced its attendance policy on Friday for Super Bowl 55 and it will include as many as 22,000 fans in attendance. The league will have 14,000 people paying for tickets and then host another 7,500 vaccinated health care workers.
The 7,500 health care workers will be determined by the 32 NFL franchises. Each team will select vaccinated health care workers in their community to attend the game. The NFL said they will use a pod system for seating, but it’s not entirely clear if the vaccinated workers will be mixed in regular seating with unvaccinated people or if they’ll be in suites and other areas like that.
The league has not had a uniform attendance policy leading up to this point. Each franchise determined whether or not it would have fans in attendance based on discussions with local and state health officials. Some teams had no fans in attendance the entire season, some started allowing fans later in the season, and the Dallas Cowboys had some amount of fans in attendance the entire season.