Soldier Field. (Photo by Scott Cunningham/Getty Images)
ALAMEDA, Calif. (CBS/AP) — The Oakland Raiders are tarping off about 10,000 seats at the Coliseum to reduce capacity to approximately 53,250 next season.
The move means Soldier Field, with 61,500 seats, will no longer have the smallest seating capacity in the NFL.
Raiders CEO Amy Trask announced Wednesday that tarps will be put over the third deck on the East side of the stadium to make it easier to sell games out and to create a better game-day environment.
About 4,850 fans will be relocated with the price of their season tickets cut from $260 to $250. Other season-ticket holders on the West side will see the price of their season tickets drop by as much as $360.
The Raiders’ average attendance last season was 54,217 when they needed to sell only 85 percent of the seats to avoid local blackouts. This season, they will need a sellout to have games televised locally.
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