Despite a national television audience, there will be no one in attendance when the Denver Broncos open the 2020 season against the Tennessee Titans.
There will be no fans at Empower Field at Mile High when the Broncos kick off the season on September 14. The game will be the second half of a doubleheader on Monday Night Football, the second year in a row the Broncos have opened the season that way.
It may not seem like much, but when you only play a 16-game regular season, home games are important. Teams in any sport have historically been better at home, that’s the way things are supposed to work. But the home crowd is perhaps the biggest part of the advantage.
In the NFL, teams only have eight home games. The Broncos will be playing at home against the Titans, but it’s not going to feel like it. It will seem much more like a neutral site game. On top of that, the Titans are no pushover, especially after reaching the conference title game last year.
Teams across the league have made announcements regarding fans coming to stadiums, with some teams such as the Las Vegas Raiders and Washington Football Team stating their stadiums will remain closed all season.
The Broncos will look into having fans as early as Week 3 when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers come to town, but not having fans there in Week 1 certainly changes things.
The Titans will be a tough opponent led by last season’s rushing champion, Derrick Henry. The Broncos are seen as a slight favorite in the game by many oddsmakers, but that is mostly because of the home-field advantage. Without fans, is there a home-field advantage?
The game is more of a toss-up now.