Report: NFL Plans on Releasing Full Schedule Next Week

The NFL is set to release its full schedule, including preseason games, at the end of this week without any major adjustments for the possible impact caused by the coronavirus pandemic, NFL league spokesperson Brian McCarthy told ESPN's Jeremy Fowler. 

"We plan to start on time," McCarthy said. “If we have to make adjustments, we will be prepared to do so based on the latest guidance from our medical experts and public health officials and current and future government regulations."

The NFL regular season opener will still be set for Sept. 10 while the Super Bowl will still be scheduled for Feb. 7 in Tampa, Fla. The league is expected to release its schedule by May 9.

Despite the plan to publish a full-slate, the league has reportedly been weighing a number of contingency plans in case it needs to adjust its schedule. Last week, the Sports Business Journal reported that the NFL has also put together a contingency plan for a schedule that has a regular season starting in mid-October, a season with no bye weeks and a Feb. 28 Super Bowl. 

An April 15 report from the Washington Post's Mark Maske added that the schedule will account for the possibility of games being lost by a delayed start.

“The schedule is being done in such a way that builds in that flexibility,” a person familiar with the NFL's planning told the Post.

The New York Post's Andrew Marchand also recently reported that NFL officials have discussed giving the league flexibility to move more games to Saturdays if the college football season is postponed.