The New England Patriots announced Monday that they won't have any fans in attendance for their remaining 2020 home games at Gillette Stadium amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The New England Revolution of Major League Soccer will also continue to play without fans at Gillette Stadium.
The Patriots played without any spectators in Week 1 (against the Miami Dolphins), Week 3 (Las Vegas Raiders), Week 6 (Denver Broncos) and Week 7 (San Francisco 49ers).
Several other teams haven't allowed any fans in attendance this season. Prior to the start of the regular season, the Las Vegas Raiders announced that they wouldn't have any fans at the brand new Allegiant Stadium for 2020.
The Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers, Los Angeles Rams, Los Angeles Chargers, Minnesota Vikings New York Jets, New York Giants, San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks also haven't had any fans.
For most of these teams, it's a wait-and-see approach. But as we enter the second half of the 2020 regular season, it looks about one-third of NFL teams will end up having zero fans in attendance for the year.
Other clubs such as the Philadelphia Eagles, Pittsburgh Steelers and Washington Football Team recently began allowing extremely limited numbers of fans for their home games.
It's been a difficult season for the Patriots, who sit at 2-5 entering Monday's Week 9 road game against the New York Jets. The team dropped its fourth consecutive game last week, marking their first four-game losing streak since the 2002 season.
The Patriots are five games behind the Buffalo Bills for the AFC East division lead. 2008 marks the last time a team other than the Patriots won the division; the Miami Dolphins won it that year with a record of 11-5.
New England's final four home games of 2020 are: Week 10 against the Baltimore Ravens, Week 12 against the Arizona Cardinals, Week 16 against the Bills and Week 17 against the Jets.