SHOW ME THE NUMBERS

The Insane Number of Stadiums America’s COVID-19 Cases Could Fill

There are now more than 2 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the United States. What does a number that big actually look like?

Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast

By Elizabeth Hunt BrockwayPublished Jun 11, 2020 3:05PM EDT

The United States hit another horrific milestone late Wednesday as the nation surpassed 2 million confirmed cases of COVID-19, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University. The incredible total was reached as the country continued to reopen, despite concerns from officials on President Trump’s coronavirus task force and surging outbreaks reported in some states.

But it’s not easy to envision what a number of that magnitude really looks like. So The Daily Beast turned to some of the largest venues the U.S. has to offer: sports arenas and stadiums. While they have been shuttered because of the pandemic, these spaces are some of the most recognizable gathering spots in the world. Terrifyingly, the largest such arena—the Indianapolis Speedway—would need to host eight years of sold-out Indy500 races to get to 2 million bodies.

What’s worse, given ongoing testing and disease surveillance failures across the United States, the 2 million figure is almost certainly a major undercount.

Presented below, the capacity of some of the most famous sports venues in the country compared to positive cases of COVID-19, and how many all-home seasons or games (or events) would need to take place in order to reach 2 million admissions.

NCAA (College Football): 12 games per regular season