The NFL plans on conducting the regular season on time in 2020, but it remains to be seen what that looks like still. In an article for The Athletic, Daniel Kaplan revealed that the league is going to allow teams to set their own attendance capacity limits.

With preseason games beginning in August, the NFL needed to lay out guidelines for fan attendance. Contrary to how the league handled reopening team facilities, it won't be a level playing field for all 32 teams. An anonymous source in the NFL shared that it will be a “state-by-state” thing when it comes to attendance.

“‘Attendance will be a state-by-state, county-by-county thing,' said one NFL source, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of coronavirus planning in NFL. ‘It will not be a one size fits all.'”

Of course, teams will have to follow the COVID-19 restrictions placed on them by their state or local governments. Therefore, some teams are going to have the go-ahead to have full stadiums.

On the other hand, some teams may have to play with zero fans in attendance. The same NFL source that shared fan attendance would differ for each team believes the season should be postponed to October.

“I wish they would push back the start of the year to October to give us more time to learn from these other leagues.”

Both the NBA and MLB appear to be gearing up for a return to their seasons in July. Depending on how those leagues handle having fans attend games, the NFL could make the necessary adjustments. Patrick Ryan, the co-founder of ticket buyer and Eventellect, pointed out to Kaplan how teams may have concessions next season”

“So some teams might be in situations where the local government doesn’t want them having prepared food, and everything has to be pre-bagged … There’s some risk of some venues not being allowed to serve anything. And so in that case, you’d be allowed to bring in your own water and certain snacks.”

While the league believes it's best not to govern the number of fans who can attend games, it will likely be a topic that causes controversy among owners as they make their own preparations.