John Mara Not Optimistic Fans Can Attend Giants Games In 2020

Giants COO John Mara isn't optimistic about having fans in the stands this year.

Giants COO John Mara would love nothing better than to open the doors of MetLife Stadium to the team's season-ticket holders this fall.

But thanks to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Mara isn't holding out much hope of being able to offer that.  

"We're not going to be able to have fans certainly in September and I'm hopeful at some point we can have them back but I have to say I'm not all that optimistic about that," Mara said Thursday during a video call with reporters. 

"We had a league meeting a couple weeks ago. I think I made the statement that we just have to accept the fact that this is not going to be, that this is going to be an unusual year."

Mara has been in communication with New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy's office regarding updates that strike a happy medium between allowing fans back into the stands and ensuring that any actions uphold health and safety guidelines to prevent an outbreak of new COVID-19 cases. 

"I've had conversations with our governor, and we're very supportive about what he's been doing so far," Mara said. "The most important thing is the health and safety of our players, our staff, and our fans entering the building.

"If we get to a point where, where the state believes that we can do this safely, then we'll consider letting fans in the building," Mara added. 

"But I'm not sure that we're at that point right now. So I think we just gotta be supportive of what the governor is trying to do."

Murphy's early-season mandate of no fans won't give new head coach Joe Judge and his young team any home-field advantage in 2020. 

The NFL has left it up to each team to decide whether it will allow fans in the stands this fall, provided their state and local government allow such a provision.

For example, in Texas, the Cowboys plan to allow for a percentage of their stadium's capacity to be filled for their regular-season opener. In contrast, the Texans are not following suit given the recent spike of COVID-19 cases in the Houston area.  

Mara believes that the decision for other teams to have fans in attendance this year will create a competitive imbalance. 

"It's not necessarily going to be competitively fair in the sense that some teams that are going to have fans in attendance and some teams are not," he said. 

"Certain areas of the country are going to be a little more liberal about allowing people in the building and that's something we're just going to have to accept and move forward."