Report: 'Extremely small' chance there will be no 2020 NFL season, league expects fans in attendance
Depending on where their news sources, fans can hear a wide variety of reports on when, if and how sports return to the United States. But ProFootballTalk's Mike Florio couldn't have been more blunt Saturday in a report, writing, "there's little to no confusion: Football season will happen."
Florio wrote:
"Per sources with direct knowledge of both the NFL's deliberations and the current and expected medical and scientific developments in the coming weeks and months, there is an 'extremely small' chance that there will be no NFL season in 2020."
Florio added that the biggest roadblock for the 2020 NFL season is testing. By August, testing is expected to be more prevalent. How long it takes to receive back the results of a test is supposed to improve as well.
The NFL hopes testing improves so well that fans are allowed in the stadiums starting in Week 1.
According to Yardbarker, the NFL is planning to release a full 2020 schedule in the next several days. Included in the schedule release is expected to be contingency plans in case things don't improve quickly enough on the COVID-19 front.
It will be interesting to see what those contingency plans are. Florio made one other great point about fans attending NFL games this fall in his report Saturday. If crowds aren't permitted until, say, October or November, that would present an unfair advantage to teams that held more home games in the early part of the season.
Therefore, the league will likely try its very best to have fans attending games starting in Week 1. However, it probably wouldn't be a bad thing from an Atlanta fan's perspective if the NFL schedule has the Falcons on the road early in the season.
