NFL Remains Optimistic About Starting Season on Time, but What if It Can't?
The NFL is determined to release its annual schedule on Thursday, an event that will no doubt be a welcomed sight for starving sports fans who, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, have had to resort to watching classic games and sports specials instead of live-action.
Although NFL officials are optimistic about the schedule starting on time, SI's Albert Breer, in his most recent notebook, took a big-picture look at the upcoming football season, and whether conditions will indeed allow for a season to go off as hoped.
One of the biggest questions is the timing of the schedule. As Breer noted, a significant question raised during his reporting involved the issue of training camp and when exactly teams would be able to open them.
As Breer noted:
Even without fans, conservatively, between the 90 players, 20 coaches, scouts, trainers, doctors, and video folks, you’re probably looking at around 150 people minimum that need to be in attendance. So the question becomes, will we, by late July, be in a position where all 22 states that have NFL teams are green-lighting gatherings of that size?
Breer goes on to opine that there is "a good chance we get there," but adds that it's not a given. In the State of New Jersey, where both the Giants and Jets are based, the stay-at-home order issued by Governor Phil Murphy had been extended indefinitely as of the end of April.
"To move out from under this order, we will need to see, at least, a sustained reduction in the number of new positive COVID-19 test results, new COVID-19 hospitalizations, and other metrics," Murphy said according to a report by FOX 5 TV in New York.
He added that there would need to be a 14-day trend of reduced cases before any reopening within the state could take place.
The NFL has determined that to forge ahead, all teams must be on a level playing field regarding access to their facilities and resources. Meanwhile, some states have begun re-opening in stages despite there still being a lot unknown about the virus.
The point is that if one state which houses an NFL team continues to enforce stay-at-home orders, don't exact teams in the other states that might have begun relaxing such precautions to get the green light to hold their training camps.
One possibility is that the NFL could follow the NBA's lead of allowing teams to open practice facilities in states that are re-opening.
Despite this positive news, NBA teams will still have to follow strict guidelines once facilities re-open.
It's certainly possible that teams who are headquartered in states where stay-at-home orders remain in effect could relocate to a state which has begun to re-open to commence training camp on time.
But even then, there are a lot of moving parts involved that would center around ensuring the players and staff are kept quarantined when they're not at work and that widespread rapid testing is available.
