Ravens Will Play in Front of Biggest Crowd at Nissan Stadium for Wild Card Game

COVID-19 has limited attendance all season.

OWINGS MILLS, Md. — The Ravens and the rest of the NFL teams have not been bothered by crowd noise on the road because of attendance restrictions at stadiums with the ongoing pandemic. 

Baltimore will play in front of its biggest crowd of the season in the wild-card game against the Titans on Jan. 10. Tennessee officials are allowing  21% of Nissan Stadium’s capacity, which means attendance for this game will be 14,520.

It will be the Titans' first home playoff game since the 2008 season. 

"We’ve been in stadiums with that kind of number – 8,000, 10,000, 12,000 – and it’s been pretty … It’s not deafeningly loud, but it’s more realistic," Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. "When you have fans there, it feels more like a game. When you don’t have any fans, it’s really different; you definitely do sense that it’s different. 

"So, either way, you’ve got to bring your own energy. I don’t care if there’s 70,000 fans in the stands, you have to bring your own energy. You have to bring your energy to compete in this league – especially in the playoffs – against the energy that you’re going to be faced with. So, yes, it’s very important to do that, either way. 

The Ravens have not dealt with opposing fans much this season, but they've been successful when attendance has been allowed. 

Here's an overview of those games

Week 6: Ravens 30, Eagles 28; Attendance: 5,500

Week 8: Ravens 24, Colts 10; Attendance: 12,200

Week 13: Ravens 47, Browns 42; Attendance: 11,974

Week 16: Ravens 38, Bengals 3; Attendance: 10,499. 

"I would say more so, you’ve really got to think about it with an empty stadium," Harbaugh said. "But the fact that they’re going to have 12,000-16,000 fans, as Chad [Steele] said, that’ll be exciting, and that’ll be a little more realistic in some ways. It’ll feel like fans."


Published
Todd Karpovich
TODD KARPOVICH

Twitter: @toddkarpovich Email: todd.karpovich@gmail.com Skype: todd.karpovich Todd Karpovich has been a contributor for ESPN, Forbes, the Associated Press, Lindy's, and The Baltimore Sun, among other media outlets nationwide. He is the co-author of “If These Walls Could Talk: Stories from the Baltimore Ravens Sideline, Locker Room, and Press Box,” “Skipper Supreme: Buck Showalter and the Baltimore Orioles,” and the author of “Manchester United (Europe's Best Soccer Clubs).” Karpovich, a Baltimore native, is a graduate of Calvert Hall College high school, Randolph-Macon College in Virginia, and has a Masters of Science from Towson University.