M&T Bank Stadium – Page 3 – Syndication Server

Ravens announce plans for reduced capacity at M&T Bank Stadium this year

The Baltimore Ravens are reducing capacity at M&T Bank Stadium due to the coronavirus pandemic, altering how tickets will be purchased.

The 2020 regular season is still firmly up in the air while the country deals with a rise in cases of COVID-19. While the NFL is pushing forward as though there will be a season, planning for teams to begin training camp later this month, how the regular season looks is still anyone’s guess. But the Baltimore Ravens are at least making initial plans for reduced capacity at home games at M&T Bank Stadium.

In an email to PSL holders on Wednesday, the Ravens outlined plans to limit attendance to less than 14,000 people per game in order to comply with social distancing restrictions. The current capacity of M&T Bank Stadium is around 71,000, putting the new capacity at about 20% of normal.

“To offer a proper level of safety for fans who want to attend games, a reduction in capacity is necessary,” Ravens president Dick Cass said in a statement. “We are disappointed that this will be a disruption for many ticket buyers, but we have an obligation to our fans and our community to keep M&T Bank Stadium as safe as possible.”

In addition, Baltimore announced season tickets for 2020 would be deferred to the 2021 season, protecting seat locations for all fans while applying funds already paid toward renewal next season or a refund if requested. Fans that have already bought 2020 single-game tickets will be refunded. Once an updated stadium layout has been created, the team will resume individual game ticket sales. PSL owners will receive an advanced opportunity to purchase tickets ahead of the public.

“With over 62,000 season tickets already sold, there is no equitable way to accommodate in a limited stadium capacity all PSL Owners who are interested in maintaining season tickets for 2020,” senior vice president of ticket sales and operations Baker Koppelman said. “Under these unusual circumstances, it’s best to simplify the ticket sales process and allow fans to decide which games they want to attend, while giving our PSL Owners priority in accessing tickets.”

While plans could further change in the future as more information about the virus is known and it’s course changes, Baltimore is making an early attempt to figure out how to get fans into the stadium for home games.

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Ravens announce re-opening of Under Armour Performance Center training facility

With the state of Maryland beginning to ease restrictions from the coronavirus pandemic, the Baltimore Ravens were able to re-open.

The Baltimore Ravens joined most of the NFL in re-opening their doors on Tuesday. After initially closing their training facility and having staff work remotely in March, Baltimore’s Under Armour Performance Center in Owings Mills is in the beginning stages of re-opening.

The Ravens got the go-ahead from Governor Larry Hogan to open their training facility and M&T Bank Stadium in accordance with the first phase of the NFL’s return policy.

Under the NFL’s rules, coaches are still not allowed to return, as are any players not currently rehabilitating an injury. Baltimore, like the rest of the league, is also limited to no more than 75 staff members in the building at a time. The Ravens will bring back staff from the equipment crew, football video, and personnel department, according to Ryan Mink of the team’s website.

There’s hope the NFL will allow coaches to return as early as next week, according to Yahoo Sports’ Charles Robinson, though nothing has been confirmed by the league or the NFLPA. However, any further strides in re-opening facilities could mark the start of football returning somewhat to normal in time for minicamps and training camp. Ravens president Dick Cass had previously said he thought the league would be prepared to open back up in time for training camp, with enough testing and regulations in place to keep everyone safe.

“We believe by the time of training camp, we’ll be able to test players and coaches, and those who meet together a lot, multiple times a week and be able to get results fairly quickly,” Cass said on “The Lounge” podcast.

“If the infection rate is really low, as I expect it will be by late summer, and we have adequate testing, and people are careful when they leave the building, I think there’s a really good shot that we’ll be OK.”

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Ravens set to lose estimated $153 million in revenue if games are played without fans

The Baltimore Ravens would lose nearly 35% of their estimated revenue if the 2020 season can’t be played with fans in attendance.

No one really knows what the 2020 NFL season is going to bring. With the coronavirus pandemic still seeing some states enforce social distancing regulations, there’s not even a guarantee the season will be played in its entirety, if at all. However, many have proposed the idea of playing games in empty stadiums to limit exposure and still have a season for fans to enjoy.

Though that would certainly be better than nothing, it would be a serious loss of revenue for every NFL team, according to Mike Ozanian of Forbes.

According to Ozanian’s list, the NFL would lose an estimated $5.5 billion in stadium revenue if fans weren’t in attendance, with the Baltimore Ravens accounting for $153 million of that. While that’s a lot of revenue lost, it’s a far smaller percentage of total revenue than a lot of other teams are losing. When compared to the rest of the league, Baltimore’s 34.93% ranks just 17th. The Dallas Cowboys sit at the top of the list, losing an estimated 65.37% of their total revenue.

There’s some hope football will be able to return in some fashion this season, as many teams began opening up their training facilities this week. Though the Ravens are not one of the teams that have opened up, due to local regulations, there’s optimism the Under Armour Performance Center will be open and ready for the start of training camp.

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Ravens working to still pay stadium workers even if fans aren’t in attendance

With the coronavirus pandemic still forcing social distancing regulations, workers at M&T Bank Stadium won’t have to fear for their jobs.

While social distancing regulations are easing around the country, no one can accurately predict what the 2020 NFL season will actually look like. Though the NFL schedule release points to the league having plenty of hope for the season to start on time and be a full 16 games, the coronavirus pandemic makes that far from a guarantee.

For many, their employment is directly tied to the football season. Stadium workers, especially, could get hurt the worst if life isn’t back to normal. Not only do they need the games to happen in the first place, but they’d also need fans in the stands to sell concessions to, provide security for, take tickets from and perform a myriad of other underappreciated jobs on a typical game day.

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However, the Baltimore Ravens will be helping those workers out in the event the season either can’t go on or is altered in some way, according to Ravens president Dick Cass.

“If we don’t have that kind of staff because we have a reduced crowd at the stadium, we are planning on creating an employees’ assistance fund,” Cass said in a press conference with the United Way, according to the Associated Press.

Cass continued, saying “We have not terminated or laid off or furloughed anybody and we don’t intend to.”

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Every stadium each of the 32 NFL teams has called home

NFL teams have moved around — some more than others. A look at the venues all 32 teams have called home at one time or another.

A look at the history of each NFL team by its home venue. Some of the stadia have had different names at times but are the same venue.

Arizona Cardinals

Normal Park 1920-21, 1926-28

Comiskey Park 1922-25, 1929-58

Soldier Field 1959

Municipal Grant Park Stadium (1924–1925)

Metropolitan Stadium 1959 (2 games)

Busch Stadium (1) 1960-65

Busch Stadium (2) 1966-87

Sun Devil Stadium 1988-2005

State Farm Stadium 2006-present

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