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Cardboard cutouts of Billie Eilish, Drake and 30,000 others fill Tampa stadium during Super Bowl

TAMPA, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 07: A cutout image of Billie Eilish is placed in the stands at the Super Bowl LV at Raymond James Stadium on February 07, 2021 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for TW via CNN)

(CNN) — It looked like Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, was filled to capacity for Super Bowl LV, but that was not the case.

Only about 25,000 fans were in attendance. The other 30,000 seats were filled with cardboard cutouts of familiar faces like Eminem, Billie Eilish and Drake.

“So when you turn on the TV, you’ll look around. It won’t be a full capacity stadium,” said Peter O’Reilly, an NFL executive vice president.

“Sixty-five thousand seats will have about twenty five thousand people in here, about thirty thousand fan cutouts honoring some incredible people, some veterans and military personnel, health care workers as well, cancer survivors, youth and high school football players. So it’ll actually look full when you turn on the TV,” O’Reilly said.

Fans paid $100 to send a picture of themselves or a loved one to the NFL, to “be in attendance” at the game, according to CNN affiliate WFTS-TV. The league told the affiliate a portion of the proceeds will be donated to the nonprofit Feeding Tampa Bay.

This isn’t the first time the NFL has featured cutouts at games. The Denver Broncos featured cutouts of South Park characters during their game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in September.