Steely McBeam
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- Mar 20, 2019
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The Steelers are hopeful to have mask-wearing fans in the stands at Heinz Field during home games this season, but it’s far from certain that will be the case.
Should the stands be empty come September, it will make for a very new experience for players who are used to playing in front of large crowds at both the professional and collegiate level. Steelers linebacker T.J. Watt is such a player and he addressed the possibility during an appearance on 93.7 The Fan this week.
Watt said the Steelers will be “flying around” in any arrangement while taking time to acknowledge that it would take some getting used to an empty building.
“I’ve briefly thought about it, but not too much,” Watt said. “Me? I’m just getting prepared to play football. It doesn’t matter if there are fans in the stands or if they’re not, obviously it’s going to be an adjustment period for all of us. I would love to have fans there, but if they’re not there because of safety, safety always comes first when it comes to the players and to the fans so, we’re just going to have to adjust and adapt and play as best as we possibly can with the circumstances that we’re dealt.”
The Ravens announced this week that they will have under 14,000 fans in their 71,000-plus seat stadium if fans are allowed to come to games this fall and we’ll likely hear about what other teams are planning in the near future.