The New England Patriots announced Monday that no fans will be allowed to attend home games for the rest of this season.
The announcement comes days after Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker instituted new interventions to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in the state. Massachusetts is seeing a surge of cases with 11,692 new cases in the past week, according to the Coronavirus Resource Center at Johns Hopkins University.
The fan ban includes the New England Revolution of MLS, who also play at Gillette Stadium.
“Throughout the last several months, Gillette Stadium officials and the Kraft Sports + Entertainment organization have worked diligently to develop a plan to safely host fans at a reduced capacity,” officials said in a statement. “We have done so in collaboration with a team of infectious disease experts and the Massachusetts Reopening Advisory Board and feel confident in our plan, which complies with guidelines issued by the CDC, the National Football League and Major League Soccer.
“We have recently been informed that the Governor’s Executive Order prohibiting large capacity venues from opening to the public will remain in force for the remainder of the 2020 football and soccer seasons.
“As we turn our focus to 2021, we will continue to work closely with the advisory board to safely reopen our building. We look forward to welcoming Patriots and Revolution fans back home to Gillette Stadium upon being granted approval next year.”
The Patriots (2-5) next play at home in Week 10 against the Baltimore Ravens (6-2). The Patriots play the New York Jets on Monday night in East Rutherford N.J.
–Field Level Media