COVID-19 News & Rumors

Less than two weeks remain until rookies are scheduled to report to training camp, but as of now, that looms as a tentative arrival window because of the uncertainty on several fronts. But a resolution may be coming next week.

On an NFLPA call Friday, players were informed a resolution may well arrive by Monday or Tuesday, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com notes (video link). Some issues remain unresolved, but compromises may be in the works. The NFL and NFLPA have a call scheduled for Monday.

The NFLPA does not want the risk preseason games in the COVID-19 environment would bring, but Fowler notes the expectation is that one or two preseason tilts will happen in exchange for the NFL backing down on other issues. The league is not believed to want daily coronavirus testing, but the NFLPA has made this a “big, big issue,” Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk notes. Roster sizes and the opt-out rules remain unresolved as well.

Not much clarity has emerged on the opt-out issue. The NBA has allowed players to voluntarily opt out without fines being levied, and Major League Baseball did the same. MLB is giving players deemed to face higher risks of COVID-19 complications (or those who live with family members who fall into that category) pay and service time for opting out. Baseball players not at increased risk choosing to opt out do not receive their prorated salary nor a year of service time.

The NFLPA has proposed reducing the training camp roster limit from 90 to 80 players, to help with social distancing. Additionally, the sides have no agreement on COVID-19 positive tests — positives that would occur after players report to camp — being classified as football injuries, per Albert Breer of SI.com (on Twitter). The union is in favor of grouping positive tests with onsite injuries, since it would mean players would be paid after contracting the virus.

The NFLPA submitted a counteroffer to the owners’ most recent financial proposal, and the sides are prepared to resume discussions on a call Monday.

The union’s plan calls for a flat cap in 2021. The 2020 number ($198.2MM) would become next year’s cap as well, and NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero tweets that the NFLPA would prefer to pay for this by borrowing from future projected revenue — a long-rumored scenario. The union’s proposal involves moving some of the projected revenue from 2022-30 — the life of the new CBA — to 2021 to account for a season that will almost certainly feature significant losses (perhaps starting at $3 billion) because of the COVID-19 pandemic’s expected impact on attendance.

This would mean lesser cap spikes than projected at this CBA’s outset, but given how poorly the NFL’s pitch to players regarding moving 35% of their 2020 salaries into escrow went over, it was expected the players’ response would venture in a different direction. Indeed, the NFLPA’s proposal includes no 2020 money going into escrow, Pelissero adds. Both the players and owners are against a cap reduction in 2021, but the last time a flat-cap scenario took place (2011-13, when the cap froze at $120MM), some owners were strongly against that, per Albert Breer of SI.com (on Twitter).

Additionally, the proposal calls for all fully guaranteed money to be paid to players — even if the season is canceled — and for each player to receive a COVID-19 risk stipend worth up to $500K, Pelissero notes (on Twitter). A lack of a uniform attendance policy, which would allow teams to individually determine stadium capacities amid the coronavirus pandemic, further muddles this financial picture.

This CBA guarantees players their 2020 salaries, and both sides agree players are due their salaries once one game is played, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk notes. Should the season be unplayable during the pandemic, the NFL and NFLPA would need to discuss salaries. But as of now, the season remains on track to be played. That said, plenty of work appears to remain ahead. Less than two weeks before rookies are scheduled to report to camp.

College football continues to grapple with the coronavirus. A day after the Big Ten became the first Power 5 conference to announce it will only play conference games, the Pac-12 revealed it will also limit its fall sports to conference-only slates.

Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott recently indicated moving the football season to the spring was a scenario he has discussed with the other commissioners of the Power 5 conferences. For now, the Pac-12 will settle on a format that removes nonconference games from its football season.

“The health and safety of our student-athletes and all those connected to Pac-12 sports continues to be our number one priority,” Scott said. “Our decisions have and will be guided by science and data, and based upon the trends and indicators over the past days, it has become clear that we need to provide ourselves with maximum flexibility to schedule, and to delay any movement to the next phase of return-to-play activities.”

It would seem the other Power 5 leagues — the ACC, Big 12 and SEC — will need to join the Big Ten and Pac-12 in eliminating nonconference contests from their respective schedules. For the Pac-12, Friday’s decision will delay the start to its fall sports calendar. Mandatory football workouts will be moved back.

The NFL has not announced a change to its July 28 training camp start dates. But with the virus continuing to spread at a record pace in the country, and key issues between the league and the NFLPA unresolved less than two weeks before rookies would report, it is safe to say a delay to players’ report dates is in play.

3:21pm: Hold the phone. A source tells Pelissero that the union has not yet agreed to the protocols (Twitter link). “Still a work in progress,” the source said.

1:28pm: The NFL and NFLPA are in agreement on a number of game-day protocols that are designed to prevent the spread of COVID-19. As Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network tweets, those protocols were issued to all teams last night.

Included in the 11-page document is the ban of on-field fan seating, the ban of media from the locker room, and a provision requiring both teams to travel to the stadium via bus. As Pelissero reports in a separate tweet, teams will not be permitted to have post-game interactions within six feet of each other, so no handshakes and no jersey exchanges.

Ian Rapoport of NFL.com notes that players and coaches will not be required to wear masks, though everyone else in the bench area will be so required (Twitter link). While on the bench, all personnel will be required to stay six feet apart to the extent possible (Twitter link via Ben Volin of the Boston Globe), anyone with bench access will be screened before entering the stadium, and anyone who has a temperature of 100.4 degrees or higher or who has been exposed to the virus will not be allowed inside (Twitter link via Rapoport).

This comes on the heels of yesterday’s agreement on a club facility protocol for training camp. So while there is still much to be hashed out between the league and the union, they have at least been able to check some items off of their extensive list.

But that doesn’t mean all players are thrilled. Outspoken 49ers CB Richard Sherman took to Twitter to point out the irony of allowing players to participate in a full contact sport while disallowing jersey exchanges, and Texans QB Deshaun Watson took a similar position (Twitter links). Still, the union agreed to the protocol, and plenty of players were concerned about how masks would impact their ability to breathe during games, so the agreement will at least appeal to those players.

As Pelissero details, the protocols will be in effect for any preseason games as well as regular season contests (Twitter link). Volin believes the agreement means that there will definitely be two preseason games, but that sounds like speculation at this point (Twitter link).