No, the Super Bowl Doesn’t Have a Full Crowd. You’re Looking at a Bunch of Cardboard Cutouts.
If you’re looking at the Super Bowl crowd at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa and thinking that it looks like a sellout, your eyes are indeed playing tricks on you.
Social media has been abuzz with many people believing that a capacity crowd is on hand for the big game.
why … are there so many people in the crowd?
— Kate Bennett (@KateBennett_DC) February 7, 2021
The crowd shots are making me uncomfortable. https://t.co/d0I5H1a19S
— Heather Taylor (@heatherAtaylor) February 7, 2021
Anyone else getting anxious looking at that crowd in Tampa, or is it just me? #SuperBowl
— Kent (@kentnish) February 7, 2021
If the NFL wants to keep positioning this event as an ode to frontline workers they should probably stop panning to the crowd
— Kayla Grey (@Kayla_Grey) February 7, 2021
Was I weird for assuming there would be a minimal crowd at the Super Bowl? I didn’t look it up. I just thought that was what we were doing. But no, that stadium is at least 3/4 full
— Jeremy Hooper (@goodasyou) February 7, 2021
I can't believe how dense this crowd is. What's going on here?
— Graham Ruthven (@grahamruthven) February 7, 2021
In the middle of a pepperoni and there’s (what looks like) a sold out crowd in Tampa. Unbelievable.
— Kayla Solomon (@KSolomonReports) February 7, 2021
But that is not the case. There are only 25,000 people on hand — in a stadium which holds just over 65,000. There are also 30,000 cardboard cutouts — giving the illusion that every seat is filled.
Of the 25,000, nearly a third is comprised of vaccinated frontline healthcare workers. Nonetheless, some people are aware of the cutouts and still believe that the crowd that actually is attending is still far too large.
I had the same feeling and looked up crowd info — apparently there are 22,500 fans there, 7,500 of whom are vaccinated health care workers, so that’s a good thing. But still… that leaves a lot of others and they don’t look very distanced.
— Matt McCleskey? (@mattsradio) February 8, 2021
I’m aware there are cardboard cutouts. I can also see there are many real people every time they show a shot of the crowd. If you think “just 20k people” isn’t a bad idea I can’t help you.
— Greg (@gwiss) February 7, 2021
I’m aware there are cardboard cutouts. I can also see there are many real people every time they show a shot of the crowd. If you think “just 20k people” isn’t a bad idea I can’t help you.
— Greg (@gwiss) February 7, 2021
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