U.S. and Canada Sports Events 2021

Tampa, Fla.
In February 2020, the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers to win Super Bowl LIV at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens. A culturally significant halftime show featuring Latina superstars Jennifer Lopez and Shakira met mostly rave reviews. It was the 10th most-watched Super Bowl in history, with a total of 102 million viewers. This year, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LV, which took place at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. Because of the pandemic, the NFL allowed just 22,000 fans to attend the game—a third of the stadium’s normal 65,000-seat capacity—along with 7,500 vaccinated frontline health-care workers, plus a crowd of cardboard cut-outs. According to ViacomCBS, which broadcast the event, the game attracted 96.4 million viewers, making it the lowest-watched Super Bowl since 2007. Next: Feb. 13, 2022
See more: Rating Super Bowl LV: Event Producers Give The Weeknd's Halftime Show a B+

Atlanta & Houston
During the truncated 2020 Major League Baseball season, the pandemic closed all ballparks to fans, with games being played in front of tens of thousands of empty seats or cardboard cut-outs. For postseason play, the league decided to allow a limited number of tickets for the National League Championship Series and World Series games at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, a neutral site rather than at teams' home stadiums. The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Tampa Bay Rays to win the title. With stadiums back at 100% capacity, this year, the Atlanta Braves captured their first World Series championship in over 20 years and also helped the sport’s top event recover in terms of ratings, averaging 11,750,000 viewers on Fox. That was up 20% from last year’s numbers. Next: Oct. 2022

Indianapolis
The 82nd edition of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament was slated to begin March 17, 2020, with the championship game taking place at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. But then COVID-19 hit, and monthlong March Madness was canceled. This year, it was back, but due to the ongoing pandemic, all tournament games were held in Indiana rather than at sites across the country, with all venues operating at a maximum of 25% capacity. The championship game between the Baylor Bears and the Gonzaga Bulldogs was held at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, with the Bears winning the title for the first in the team’s history. Next: April 2 and 4, 2022

New York
This year, more than 630,000 fans returned to the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens, N.Y., for the U.S. Open, which was played to nearly full capacity for the first time since 2019. An average of 881,000 viewers tuned into the action, up 33% from last year's 662,000. No fans were allowed to attend the 2020 tournament, which saw many top players opt out due to COVID-19 safety concerns or other reasons, including Rafael Nadal, Gaël Monfils and Roger Federer. At this year’s tournament, Daniil Medvedev won the men's singles title and Emma Raducanu won the women's singles title. Next: Aug. 29-Sept. 11, 2022
See more: See How Brands Are Courting Fans at This Year’s U.S. Open

Hamilton, Ontario
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers defeated the Hamilton Tiger-Cats at McMahon Stadium in Calgary for the Canadian Football League’s championship game in November 2019. In 2020, the CFL canceled its season due to the COVID-19 pandemic (and lack of financial assistance from the government), meaning the Grey Cup wasn’t presented for the first time since 1919. Play returned this year in August, with a truncated 14-game schedule. The 108th Grey Cup is slated to take place this December at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton, Ontario, more than two years after the last one. Regina, Saskatchewan, was scheduled to host the 108th game but will now serve as the location in 2022 instead. Next: Dec. 12, 2021

Atlanta
Held in February 2020 at the United Center in Chicago, the 69th All-Star Game was revamped with a new set of scoring rules that incorporated a tribute to Kobe Bryant and his jersey number (Bryant died in a helicopter crash in January 2020). In addition, the uniforms for Team LeBron (James) and Team Giannis (Antetokounmpo) were 24 and 2, representing the numbers that Bryant wore with the Lakers and his daughter Gigi wore for her travel team. The shot clock also illuminated when it hit 24 and 8. Team LeBron defeated Team Giannis, 157–155. This year, the NBA All-Star Weekend festivities were jammed into one day, instead of the usual three, at State Farm Arena in Atlanta. Team LeBron won the game against Team Durant (Kevin), 170–150. Next: Feb. 20, 2022

Montreal & Tampa
In July 2020, the National Hockey League staged a 24-team playoff tournament that was conducted in two neutral "hub" cities to help protect teams from COVID-19, after canceling the 2019-20 season earlier in the year. Games were hosted by Edmonton and Toronto. The Eastern Conference champion Tampa Bay Lightning faced off against the Western Conference champion Dallas Stars in the Stanley Cup series, which took place sans fans at Rogers Place in Edmonton in September 2020. In 2021, the defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning took on the Montreal Canadiens at Amalie Arena in Tampa and Bell Centre in Montreal, with limited capacity at both venues. The Lightning once again took home the championship. Next: May 2-June 30, 2022