Finally, a possible light at the end of the pandemic tunnel for sports fans ... Dr. Fauci says according to his calculations, NFL stadiums could safely be at full capacity by next September.
"Oh, that's possible," the coronavirus expert told Yahoo Sports this week. "I think that's possible.”
Fauci says with COVID-19 vaccines on the way from Pfizer and Moderna ... the timeline for allowing NFL teams to hold games with 60,000-plus fans in every seat could line up with the league's opening day in Sept. 2021.
The bad news? The doc says there doesn't appear to be much hope for full, 20,000-plus seat arenas in the 2020-21 NBA season.
"We're gonna be vaccinating the highest-priority people [from] the end of December through January, February, March," Fauci said. “By the time you get to the general public, the people who'll be going to the basketball games, who don't have any underlying conditions, that's gonna be starting the end of April, May, June."
"So, it probably will be well into the end of the summer before you can really feel comfortable [with full sports stadiums] -- if a lot of people get vaccinated."
Of course, some teams -- like the Dallas Cowboys and Cleveland Browns -- have allowed fans in their stadiums this NFL season, although none has been anywhere remotely close to full capacity.
Here's to hopin' Fauci's gut instincts are right ... we could all use the pick-me-up this post-Thanksgiving Tuesday.