Pittsburgh is expected to have a limited number of fans for their Wild Card game set for the second weekend in January, according to this tweet from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Gerry Dulac.
As Dulac’s tweet indicates, it’s not clear on the number of fans who will be allowed to attend.
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf yesterday announced he would allow the most recent COVID restrictions expire on January 4th. Those restrictions were intended to mitigate spikes in cases during the holiday season. That is opening up a path to allowing larger outdoor gatherings though according to his own website, large venues can still only have a max of 2500 people. It’s unclear if the Steelers are getting an exemption to those rules.
Pittsburgh’s played without fans for most of the season. Midway through the year, a small group of fans were able to attend, around 5000-5500. The last home game with fans was November 15th against the Cincinnati Bengals.
The Steelers have been planning for the possibility of having fans for the postseason for weeks now, sending out email alerts in mid-December informing fans about signing up for the chance to be selected. That email said their goal was to have roughly 7500 fans at Heinz Field for the playoffs.
UPDATE (1:00 PM)
The Steelers have released a statement saying they’re currently only opening up seating to friends and family of the team. They hope to be able to expand seating to the general public but are still in talks with state health officials.
