The sports attendance jokes grew old long ago. Bad team suspects or even announces no fans are allowed to attend its games as a COVID-19 precaution, and the social media world rushes to the same punch line.
For some teams, though, the jokes land with better accuracy. The Washing Football Team is one of those squads.
MORE: NFL moving forward with 2020 season on schedule
Washington announced Wednesday that NFL games at FedEx Field will be played without fans during the 2020 season "with the health and safety of its fans and employees top of mind." A portion of team owner Dan Snyder's statement read, "We are fortunate to host the best fans in the NFL year after year."
Last season, though, the "best fans in the NFL" filled FedEx Field with an average attendance of 65,488 in the 82,000-seat stadium, per ESPN. That means it was just 79.9 percent full on average, the third worst in the NFL for 2019 ahead of the Buccaneers (79.1 percent) and the Bengals (72 percent).
In 2018, Washington ranked dead last in the league in attendance by percentage of seating capacity. It ranked 28th in 2017 and 30th in 2015, with a spike to 18th in 2016 with the team coming off an NFC East title.
So, yeah, the jokes in this case are fair. They can be found in the comments of any post about Washington's announcement Wednesday. Below are just a few examples.
so it'll look like it did last year? https://t.co/m0L4qqySdc
— bomani (@bomani_jones) August 12, 2020
Someone better tell the Eagles fans before they descend onto FedEx Field as they always do.
— Reality Shows Will Be the Death of Us All (@revreaves) August 12, 2020
Thought they started doing this years ago??
— Connor Jones (@_cjones26) August 12, 2020
That's nothing new for them
— Keith Blair (@ksblair) August 12, 2020
Eagles fans won’t be able to take over FedExField for season opener
— John Clark (@JClarkNBCS) August 12, 2020
No fans in Washington this year
https://t.co/236l226GI4
That’s one tradition that isn’t changing!
— RedWolves Fan (@numberthirty6) August 12, 2020
How does this differ from previous recent seasons?
— Mr AJ B (@Affypop) August 12, 2020
Finally, a good fan experience at FedEx Field.
— Cjmullysr (@mullinsnova) August 12, 2020
The Washington Football Team says there will not be spectators at games to start the season, but they will have loudspeakers pipe in the sounds of fans booing.
— Fake Dispatch (@Fake_Dispatch) August 12, 2020
The Washington Football Team joins the Jets, Giants and Raiders as NFL teams that will host no fans in 2020. Most teams' plans remain fluid with the possibility they, too, won't be able to have fans in their stadiums.