We’ve seen a glimpse of what sports will be like without fans. We’ve seen that the lack of fans in the stands might significantly change outcomes of games.
As fans, we can sit back and see how empty stadiums affect games. Oddsmakers don’t have that luxury. They need to make assumptions now.
Point spreads and futures for the NFL season are already up at BetMGM, and there’s no way to definitively know how to handle the various possibilities. The NFL draws the most interest at sportsbooks, so a lot of money is riding on how oddsmakers adjust to the possibility of a season without fans.