This week continues to bring news on the NFL’s plans for training camps and the regular season amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The league and the NFLPA remain in talks on the official setup, but some of the NFL’s stances emerged Wednesday.
Perhaps the biggest takeaway: the NFL has no plans to formulate a bubble scenario that would compare to how the NBA will return. NFL chief medical officer Dr. Allen Sills said a bubble setup is impractical, noting instead that the league will rely on frequent testing and contract tracing, via Tom Pelissero of NFL.com (on Twitter). Testing strategies will likely change over the course of the season, as the technology progresses, Sills adds (Twitter link). Thrice-per-week testing has surfaced as a target during the lead-up to training camp.
The NFL nixed off-site training camps this year and eliminated international games from its 2020 schedule. But no rumors have surfaced regarding plans for the league to remove games from home stadiums. The prospect of holding games at central locations surfaced several weeks ago but was deemed a non-starter.
While it could be argued the NFL has a steeper climb toward a return compared to the NBA because of its near-3,000-player (during camp) workforce, and the nature of football itself, several offseason months have passed since the coronavirus made its way into the United States. The league reversing course on a bubble scenario now would be unrealistic.
NFL executive VP of football operations Troy Vincent added that the discussions between the league and the union have included roster sizes, per CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora (on Twitter). Vincent fielded a question pertaining to the practicality of 90-man rosters — allowed throughout the preseason — but possible expansion of 53-man regular-season rosters would seemingly make sense in this virus-changed world. The new CBA does allow for teams to carry 55 players on game days, with 48 being active (up from 46). But those changes were agreed to before COVID-19 entered the equation.
Nfl gets their way again
A bubble setup makes sense for the NHL and NBA (and MLB but they aren’t doing it) but they don’t play enough games often enough to justify it in the NFL. If anything, it would increase their risk.
Assuming each team uses private planes and buses (that get cleaned), it’s fine.
The other sports that need to play as many games in as short a period as possible need bubble setups.
so true. this bubble works like you said for teams that play more game in a shorter time. but teams playing once a week wont hurt them if they play it safe. myabe they cut out thursday games for this season and just have monday and sundays.