4 NHL Teams Will Have Fans In The Stands

On March 12th, 2020, the NHL was forced to pause league play as a result of Covid-19. The playoffs were played in a bubble with no fans and an environment that forced players away from their friends and family. The 2021 regular season will not be played in a bubble and some arenas are allowing fans to be in attendance.

Fans in the stands allows teams to retain a significant amount of lost revenue, but the reduced capacity requirement will still prevent teams from realizing their full profit potential. The Arizona Coyotes, Dallas Stars, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Florida Panthers have been allowed to have fans in attendance for 2021 home games, but at a greatly reduced capacity. Hopefully this is the beginning of the end of Covid-19's impact on the NHL.

UPDATED: as of now, 4 of the NHL's 31 clubs will have some fans in attendance to start the 2020-21 season:

➖Arizona Coyotes: 25% cap, 3,450 fans
➖Dallas Stars: 30% cap, 5,000 fans
➖Tampa Bay Lightning: 23% cap, 3,900 fans
➖Florida Panthers: 25% cap, 5,000 fans
— Mark J. Burns (@markjburns88) January 8, 2021