42 percent of Americans feel comfortable attending in-person sports: poll

Less than half of Americans feel comfortable attending in-person sporting events, according to a poll from The Washington Post and the University of Maryland released Wednesday.

The poll found that 42 percent of Americans felt comfortable attending a ticketed sporting event in-person amid the pandemic.

Thirty-two percent of Americans said they would feel comfortable attending an indoor sporting event like basketball, while 66 percent said they would feel comfortable attending an outdoor sporting event like baseball.

The poll comes one year after the coronavirus pandemic abruptly halted sporting events in the U.S. Several teams have gone back to in-person games under fan capacity limits and testing restrictions.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said Wednesday that he hoped that games would be played in front of full stadiums this year. The comments from the commissioner came after NFL owners approved a 17-game expanded season for the 2021 season.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) announced earlier this month that the New York Yankees and the New York Mets will allow the return of fans at 20 percent capacity starting April 1.

Half of participants in the survey said they would feel comfortable attending a stadium at 50 percent capacity, while 69 percent said they would be comfortable with a stadium at 20 percent capacity.

Sixty-four percent of those surveyed said they would be comfortable attending if guests are required to wear masks. The same number of people said that they would feel comfortable if they were vaccinated.

The survey also found that 54 percent of participants would be comfortable if COVID-19 case levels were low in the region where the event is.

Sixty-three percent said it is a large or moderate risk to attend in-person sporting events right now, compared to 36 percent that said it is small or no risk.

The Washington Post-University of Maryland poll surveyed 1,500 adults from March 12 to 18. It has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.