Report: Cowboys-Steelers Hall Of Fame Game Canceled
The NFL's kickoff match, held annually in Canton, Ohio as part of the Hall of Fame enshrinement weekend, has been canceled this year due to concerns about the spread of the coronavirus COVID-19, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter. The game this year was slated for August 6 between the Dallas Cowboys and the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony, scheduled for August 8, will also be postponed and held next year.
The game is the first of the NFL pre-season but also brings together former players, coaches and families for the surrounding festivities.
The Cowboys and Steelers are expected to keep their matchup and now appear in the 2021 Hall of Fame Game according to Schefter. The two teams were also scheduled to be the first to arrive at training camp in order to complete camp by the August 6 date. No word yet on if that will now change.
This will be the first event that the coronavirus has effected for the NFL. The league was able to hold the 2020 NFL Draft, albeit virtually, as well as conduct free agency.
Schefter also reported that the current decision for remaining teams to report on July 28 will be discussed on a teleconference call with owners on Thursday. The Jaguars are among those teams expected to report in late July.
The reportedly canceled Hall of Fame game comes a little over a week after Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading expert on infectious diseases and advisor with the White House Coronavirus Task Force, told CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta that any football this fall would require near isolation due to the continued spread of the novel coronavirus COVID-19.
“Unless players are essentially in a bubble – insulated from the community and they are tested nearly every day – it would be very hard to see how football is able to be played this fall,” Fauci told Gupta.
