President Joe Biden says his administration intends to take up the NFL on its offer to use the league’s stadiums as COVID-19 vaccination sites.
During an interview on CBS’ Super Bowl pregame show, Biden said “absolutely we will” when asked if the federal government intended to use all the stadiums to try to ramp up vaccine distribution.
“I’m going to tell my team they’re available, and I believe we’ll use them,” Biden said.
Biden mentioned the offer that came from commissioner Roger Goodell in a letter this past week.
Seven NFL stadiums — the Carolina Panthers‘ Bank of America Stadium, Arizona Cardinals‘ State Farm Stadium, Atlanta Falcons‘ Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Baltimore Ravens‘ M&T Bank Stadium, Houston Texans‘ NRG Park, Miami Dolphins‘ Hard Rock Stadium and New England Patriots‘ Gillette Stadium — are already being used as vaccination sites. Goodell’s offer extends to the rest of them.
Biden also told CBS that, through vaccination efforts, he expects Super Bowl LVI to be played in front of a full SoFi Stadium in 2022. The NFL announced last month that Sunday’s Super Bowl would have about 22,000 fans inside Raymond James Stadium’s 65,000 capacity.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.