Last week, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan signed an executive order allowing fans at a capacity of 10% to outdoor sporting events within the state. According to the order, the Washington Football Team could start allowing roughly 8,000 fans at their home games with FedEx Field being located in Landover, Maryland.
However, fans won’t be admitted into the stadium Sunday when Washington hosts their division rival, the Dallas Cowboys. That’s “too quick of a turn around” for Washington to allow general fans to attend the game, team president Jason Wright told ABC 7’s Scott Abraham.
Instead, Washington likely will target Week 9’s game against the New York Giants to allow fans inside FedEx Field.
“We have the bye week coming up after this. It gives us plenty of time to be prepared to do something substantial in the coming week. We have a plan to bring back fans,” Wright said. “If you want to pencil something on the calendar, I would look at the Giants week. That gives us the right time to prepare.”
Washington will have their bye week following the Cowboys game before hosting the Giants in Week 9 on Nov. 8. Yet, the capacity of fans will most likely be far less than Gov. Hogan’s state order would allow. With FedEx Field being located in Prince George’s County, Washington will have to adhere to stricter county regulations on large crowd gatherings in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“While the state of Maryland gave their guidance,” Wright added. “There is also the guidance from the county. The county’s cap is currently at 3,250 fans for large gatherings. That’s what we’re moving toward and what we’re looking at doing after the bye week.”
Washington did allow roughly 250 family members and friends of players, coaches and staff members to attend their Week 5 home game against the Los Angeles Rams. They plan to do something similar this week against the Cowboys. As for the rest of their fans, they’ll have to wait tentatively for Week 9 for their opportunity to be inside FedEx Field to watch the Washington Football Team.
