The NFL has scheduled a conference call with owners Thursday, and the discussion will include plans to reopen team facilities, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. Players not rehabbing injuries have been barred from team headquarters throughout the offseason. As discussion between the NFL and NFLPA regarding the navigation of a season amid the COVID-19 pandemic continues, here is the latest from the coronavirus front:
- Multiple teams are proceeding as if they will report to training camp July 28, which is the scheduled start date for most of the NFL, and that there will be no pre-camp conditioning-type period, Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero of NFL.com note (via Twitter). This does not appear set in stone, but the NFLPA is not believed to be on board with an earlier report date. Additionally, a shortened preseason is likely following the late-July reporting date, per the NFL.com duo. A truncated exhibition slate has also been a recent topic.
- Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said this week a COVID-19 vaccine surfacing this year is not out of the question. Fauci said he was “cautiously optimistic” a vaccine would be available by the end of 2020 or early in 2021, Steven Nelson of the New York Post writes. Fauci added that vaccine distribution could come around the same time. These developments would obviously be a game-changer as the world grapples with the virus, and sports leagues would benefit immensely from a vaccine being available so soon.
- Although Fauci recommended the NFL reconsider a bubble format — one the league opted against weeks ago — other doctors have pushed back on the idea the league can or should attempt this, Ben Volin of the Boston Globe notes. While restrictions on players when they are away from team facilities during camp and the regular season are not yet known, multiple experts informed Volin sequestering NFLers for so many months was not exactly feasible.
- Shifting back to the subject of preseason football, the possibility of the Hall of Fame Game not taking place is on the table. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said recently that the game will likely not be played in front of fans and that the Cowboys–Steelers matchup would not take place if it needed to be played at this moment, per Zac Jackson of The Athletic (on Twitter). Cowboys officials have been skeptical for weeks the game will happen, David Moore of the Dallas Morning News tweets. The league could well opt to eliminate the early portion of the preseason schedule in an effort to give players more time to re-acclimate after the virtual offseason.
They might cancel the Hall of Fame Game!? Whatever shall we do?? /s
Since were so divided by race and party lines we may as well go to next step. The side that wants to go out and live life and see the world and the side who wants to stay home and try to live off the govt. that way the choice is ours to make.
What does this have to do with my comment?
Stop drop and roll.
The government doesn’t produce revenue for others to live off of. Taxpayers provide the revenue used by the government for others to live off of.
Seems logical.
Does that mean I can legally kill you for killing my parents with a cough or does this just mean you should be able to do whatever you want because you aren’t in a high risk group and don’t think you should be inconvenienced just to keep other people alive?
So when does the league and players decide to change to flag football?
We’re just going to have a Madden’21 League season. Each week games will be simulated and results posted.
Proof that you can always find a doctor somewhere that will say whatever you want if you pay him enough money.
They should sequester and it is much safer, possible and easier than what they are going to attempt.
It does require that some guys don’t get to see their families for a few months but they shouldn’t be seeing them anyway when they are doing jobs that put them unto higher risk categories with essential workers.
I don’t think teams should be able to force people to play but I don’t think they should pay people that don’t play either. These are dangerous times and rich people might not want to take extra risks. There are however lots of poor people that really want to take that risk and there is a huge market of fans happy to watch whoever is willing to don the uniform.
What we don’t need is people lying about what is possible and what is risky.
When can we start calling it Covid-20?