The NFL will look really various when the Chiefs and Texans kickoff in Kansas City

Under smoke-filled skies in the West and coronavirus still raving throughout America, the National Football League asks: Are you all set for some football?

The NFL begins its 101st season of play Thursday night when the Super Bowl champ Kansas City Chiefs invite the going to Houston Texans to a sparsely filled Arrowhead Stadium.

The 8: 20 p.m. ET contest, telecasted on NBC, will look and sound various than any in current memory.

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The Chiefs will just enable a smattering of socially distanced fans into their arena, long considered among the NFL’s loudest and most raucous. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, just 17,000 viewers — mainly a fortunate swimming pool of season ticket holders — will be the stands, about 22 percent of Arrowhead’s capability of more than 76,000.

The last time Kansas City Coach Andy Reid might keep in mind stalking sidelines in front of so couple of fans remained in 1985 as an assistant at San Francisco State, then a NCAA Division II program that no longer exists.

“If we were playing UC Davis, we would have that. But it’s been a while,” Reid stated. “They had the ultimate jump ball just to get into the stadium, however, that was picked. So I know they’ll be revved up and ready to go.”

The rest of Week 1 will kickoff on Sunday, and fans will see a video game that’ll look completely foreign to any ever played prior to this 2020 season.

The Chiefs are amongst just a handful of groups preparing to enable any paid viewers.

Fan-less video games will look especially disconcerting when the Las Vegas Raiders, Los Angeles Rams and L.A. Chargers all play in their glimmering, brand name brand-new arenas.

The Rams play host to the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday (8: 20 p.m. ET on NBC) at shimmering SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. The Rams’ housemates L.A. Chargers get their very first possibility to dip into empty SoFi Stadium a week from Sunday versus Kansas City.

This 2020 season will be the Raiders’ very first project in Las Vegas, and their house opener at Allegiant Stadium is set for “Monday Night Football” on Sept. 21 versus the New Orleans Saints.

The New York Giants and Jets, playing in America’s biggest urban area, have no instant strategies to enable any viewers into 10-year-old MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

The San Francisco 49ers are arranged to open the season Sunday versus the going to Arizona Cardinals, however league authorities are keeping a close eye on Bay Area air quality that’s been seriously jeopardized by raving wildfires in the West.

San Francisco Coach Kyle Shanahan today compared the setting to an apocalyptic state, right out of “The Book of Eli.”

The Washington Football Team will play 2020 under that generic name after revealing in July it would eliminate its name that had actually long been determined as racist towards Native Americans.

Washington wants to have a brand-new name by the 2021 season.

The Chiefs this off season likewise revealed they would prohibit fans from using synthetic-Native American headdresses or offending face paint to house video games.

This will be the very first season of a brand-new playoff format that will now consist of 14 groups in the post-season competition, up from 12.

The 8 department winners, 4 in each conference, will certify together with 6 wildcard entrants, 3 each in NFC and AFC.

The very first weekend of post-season play will consist of 12 groups — so all competing clubs, minus the No. 1 seed of both conferences — and they’ll soft-pedal to 6 survivors. Those staying groups and the leading 2 seeds will bet 2 more weekends to identify who plays in Super Bowl LV.

That title video game is set for Feb. 7, 2021, at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed.