NFL venues hosting fans in the 2020 season are trying to balance reduced food and beverage options and enhanced safety protocols in the COVID era with their desire to keep the game experience as comfortable and as normal as possible.
In the first two weeks of the 2020 NFL season, only the Dallas Cowboys, Kansas City Chiefs, Miami Dolphins, Jacksonville Jaguars, Indianapolis Colts and Cleveland Browns are hosting fans. Several other teams are keeping the option open as the season progresses.
Fans who attend will find reduced food options, which will focus more on staples such as chicken tenders, burgers and hot dogs compared to the chef-inspired stadium fare that has driven the food and beverage business for several years.
For the Dolphins, who are hosting roughly 20% of their capacity, and the Jaguars, who will have 25%, social distancing will be the theme undergirding their concession operations.
Kevin Mitchell, vice president and general manager at Centerplate, the concessionaire for the Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium and the Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium, said the biggest challenge of preparing for the Dolphins’ Sept. 20 home game was configuring Hard Rock Stadium to provide the standard six feet of social distancing for the 13,000 fans expected.
“We’ll have stanchions, rope blinds, messaging on the floor to communicate that fans need to stay six feet apart, and we’ll have greeters that will tell fans which POS (point of sale) to go to,” Mitchell said. “We’ve eliminated a lot of the POS in the stadium, but we will have high ratios in terms of how many POS per person so there won’t be huge lines.” And alcohol sales will be cut off at halftime as opposed to the end of the third quarter.
Like other teams, the Miami Dolphins have reduced the number of points of sale.miami dolphins
While walk-up orders will be taken, 17 brick-and-mortar stands at Hard Rock Stadium have been converted into pickup stations for fans who order food via the Dolphins’ mobile app, which was developed by Tapin2.
“So you go on the Dolphin app, you hit the food menu, you pick your location, the menu will come up and it will tell you it will be ready in approximately eight minutes,” Mitchell said. “And then you go up there, it will be bagged with your transaction number and your name.” Fans will need to show their ID when picking up beer and wine purchases.
Centerplate tested the system over the summer when Hard Rock Stadium hosted drive-in movies, Mitchell said. The stadium will not do in-seat food delivery because of social distancing protocols, he added.
Fans in premium seating at Hard Rock Stadium can expect prepared individual plates, along with individually wrapped items and closed containers for beverages.
In Jacksonville, Chad Johnson, the Jaguars’ senior vice president of sales and service and chief content officer, said the team will reduce its POS at TIAA Bank Field by 30% but game-day staff will increase by 15% to ensure a smooth flow of fans at security gates and in the concourses and seating bowl.
Jaguars fans can place walk-up orders and also will be able to order food and beverage through the team’s app, which was also developed by Tapin2, and choose the closest concession stand to pick up their orders. TIAA will also be cashless this year and fans can pay for food and beverage and merchandise through Jags Pay, which was developed by Tappit. The Jaguars will not be increasing concessions prices for fans, Johnson added.
“When you order your food and beverage, you will get a text message and a QR code sent to your phone, Johnson said. “So, you will walk up to our concession stand and show that QR code and your food will be pre-packaged in a closed vessel, waiting for you. The food and beverage vendor will then, through plexiglass, scan that barcode to ensure that you’ve, in fact, ordered and paid, and you will grab your items and leave.”
Other publications reported the Jaguars spent $1 million preparing TIAA Bank Field to host fans, but Johnson said the investment by the team, its concessionaire Delaware North and other partners pushes that number higher.
The Dallas Cowboys will welcome fans for the team’s Sept. 20 game at AT&T Stadium, but it’s still unclear how many they will host; “we’ll be lucky to have 20% [capacity] when it’s all said and done,” said C.T. Nice, Legends regional vice president.
Food and beverage transactions will be cashless. AT&T Stadium normally has 650 POS, but this year it will have only 350 to 400 given the smaller crowds. But food and beverage options will be available at more locations to ensure lines are not an issue, Nice said.
Legends will reduce AT&T Stadium’s menu by 15% to 20%, leaving most of its best-selling items.
“So the quinoa salad that maybe 20 people ordered maybe won’t be on the menu in this environment,” Nice said.
