COVID-19 News & Rumors

Latest On NFL, COVID-19

May 19th, 2020 at 3:54pm CST by Sam Robinson

Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert’s positive coronavirus test in mid-March brought the sports world to a standstill. Key NFL figures like Sean Payton and Von Miller tested positive later in the spring. NFL chief medical officer Dr. Allen Sills acknowledges players will test positive when teams reconvene, but the league expects the testing landscape to be different in the next month or two (Twitter links via ESPN.com’s Dan Graziano).

While testing has been inconsistent in the United States since the virus began spreading rapidly in March, some within the NFL are banking on increased test availability by the fall allowing for a 16-game season, Mark Maske of the Washington Post notes. Considering the roster and staff sizes the NFL brings, testing will be a greater task compared to the NBA and Major League Baseball. But the league reopened facilities (though not for coaches and players) Tuesday and has seen some states announce sports can be played by the end of the month.

Coaches are not expected to be back at facilities until all states’ stay-at-home orders cease, and Sills did not put a timeline on when players will be permitted to return. Training camp has been widely viewed as the first time players will be back. The NFL is working with other sports leagues on return protocols, though Sills acknowledges the nature of football presents a different challenge (Twitter links via NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero).

Browns center J.C. Tretter said players returning to team workouts is still “a ways out.” The newly elected NFLPA president said the NFLPA has held biweekly meetings about various COVID-19 issues, including players with pre-existing conditions, Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com notes. A player or coach in a higher-risk category contracting the virus would obviously become a much more serious issue for the league. The NFL and NFLPA have engaged in discussions about protocols for when players test positive, Maske adds, noting no agreement is in place.

With 90-man rosters in place until cutdown day, 2,880 players along with the hundreds of coaches and various other personnel will need extensive tests once teams reconvene for camp. Testing protocol has not yet emerged, but Sills said the league will make a “strong commitment” to avoid taking tests away from people who need them (Twitter link via ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler). Until a testing plan emerges, it is difficult to speculate how the NFL’s effort to accomplish this will look.

Coaches Not Expected Back At Facilities Until All Are Open

May 18th, 2020 at 4:18pm CST by Sam Robinson

Phase 1 of the NFL’s reopening will begin Tuesday. Various front office staffers and other team personnel will have the option to work from team facilities, but coaches — and players who are not rehabbing injuries — continue to wait.

The league’s current line of thinking points to teams’ coaching staffs not being back at facilities until all 32 facilities are open, Judy Battista of NFL.com tweets. Several cannot open Tuesday because of stay-at-home orders remaining in effect.

Although players are not expected to be at team facilities until training camp, events of Monday afternoon provided a glimmer of hope in a grim stretch for sports. Texas joined Arizona and Florida among states that have reopened for sports, with the Lone Star State set to green-light fan-less games beginning May 31. California Gov. Gavin Newsom also said today that June 1 could serve as an opening for his state’s sports contests to resume (sans fans), via The Athletic’s Anthony Slater (on Twitter).

The NFL allowing teams’ coaches to return to facilities while others wait would not seemingly provide an immense advantage for certain teams, at least compared to the league giving some teams the option of bringing players back while others cannot. But for now, keeping each of the 32 teams’ staffs operating in a virtual capacity ensures fairness.

Social-distancing measures may still create a problem for teams to hold workouts, given the number of players and coaches involved and the in-between-whistles requirements of the sport. But some of the country’s marquee sports states making plans to move forward represents a good sign for the time being.

Texas To Allow Pro Sports To Resume

May 18th, 2020 at 2:44pm CST by Sam Robinson

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Monday that pro sports will be permitted to resume May 31, per Anna Tinsley of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (on Twitter). This is contingent on no fans being present, however.

Texas follows Florida and Arizona in green-lighting sports to return. Texas obviously houses two NFL teams, but only the Texans hold training camp in the state. But with the Cowboys’ usual Oxnard, Calif., camp looking unlikely to be green-lit this year, Texas’ longest-tenured NFL franchise would have a better chance of holding camp in-state.

Some in the Cowboys organization view an Oxnard camp as a remote possibility, per Michael Gehlken of the Dallas Morning News (on Twitter). Holding camp at their Frisco, Texas, facility would be Plan B. With several teams potentially looking for sites to hold training camp due to COVID-19 restrictions, Texas could serve as a landing spot for non-Texas-headquartered teams.

The NFL announced teams can have various staffers report to facilities beginning Tuesday, but coaches and non-injured players remain barred from facilities.

Ravens To Consider Out-Of-State Training Camp

May 18th, 2020 at 2:06pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Ravens hope to hold their training camp at their team facility but will consider relocating due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Several teams have joined the Ravens in discussing relocation measures. Although Maryland lifted its stay-at-home order Friday, it marks an early phase of a gradual reopening plan. Gatherings of more than 10 people will remain restricted, per Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan.

“We’ll consider all options,” Ravens president Dick Cass said, via the Baltimore Sun’s Jonas Shaffer. “I think when we think about the option of trying to move our training camp outside Maryland, we don’t like that option. We think that we can conduct training camp safely in Maryland. We know that our building will be absolutely pristine, and I think the safest place to conduct our training camp will be in Maryland, at our facility.

“But if circumstances don’t allow that, we will explore the options that are available to us. We have to.”

Cass does not expect Ravens players at the team facility until training camp. Last week, the NFL announced its first phase in what it hopes will be a successful reopening. Certain staffers may return to team facilities in states where no stay-at-home order exists, but coaches and non-injured players remain barred from team headquarters. In addition to teams’ 90-man rosters being present at training camp, dozens of additional coaches and other personnel are on hand for camp in a normal year. But social-distancing measures will make holding camp a challenge for teams. For some in states more affected by the coronavirus, relocations may be imminent.

The Ravens have never held a training camp outside of Maryland. They have convened each summer at their facility in Owings Mills since 2011. In the franchise’s first 15 years, McDaniel College in Westminster served as the camp site.

Falcons To Reopen Facilities

May 16th, 2020 at 10:15am CST by Zachary Links

The Falcons will reopen their facilities on Tuesday, per a club announcement. Many more teams are expected to follow suit after Roger Goodell gave the greenlight on Saturday.

We won’t see all 32 teams reopen their facilities on Tuesday, of course, but more than two-thirds of the league will at least have the option. The clubs that do reopen will have to follow the league’s guidelines, and they won’t have coaches or players in attendance. Front office executives and medical personnel can be in the building, but they’ll be capped 50% of staff and no more than 75 total employees.

“Our goal is to reopen facilities safely and in a way that is consistent with medical and public health guidance, as reflected in the protocols; is permitted by current government regulations; and respects principles of competitive equity,” the commissioner wrote in the memo.

After that, the league will play things by ear and continue to ease the restrictions, phase-by-phase.

“This first phase of reopening is an important step in demonstrating our ability to operate safely and effectively, even in the current environment,” Goodell wrote. “After we implement this first phase, and as more states and localities enact policies that allow more club facilities to reopen, I expect that additional staff, likely including coaching staff, will be allowed to return to club facilities in a relatively short time.”

NFL To Allow Teams To Reopen Facilities

May 15th, 2020 at 5:11pm CST by Sam Robinson

The NFL released a plan for teams to reopen their facilities May 19. Several stipulations are involved, but if certain conditions are met and the respective teams’ states are not under any lockdown measures, select personnel may return to clubs’ facilities, the league announced.

One of the stipulations: players and coaches remain barred from team facilities. The NFL released a memo earlier this week extending the virtual offseason through the end of May. This latest memo indicates teams’ front office staffers, medical personnel and select others can report as soon as Tuesday.

Coaches are not allowed to return to team headquarters because of an NFL fair-play effort, thus minimizing the impact of Friday’s announcement. Many teams are located in states where COVID-19 lockdown measures remain. Several are discussing out-of-state training camps. It is not expected players will be back on site until training camp. Players undergoing medical treatment are permitted to be at team sites, however.

No team can exceed 75 staffers at facilities. If teams conduct on-site work at separate locations, Friday’s new guidelines will still cap the total number of staffers at 75.

NFL Bracing For 2021 Salary Cap Decrease?

May 15th, 2020 at 4:24pm CST by Sam Robinson

The scenario of teams playing games in fan-less venues this season has opened the door to a possibility of the salary cap being reduced, and just all NFL parties — teams, players, agents, etc. — are bracing for this scenario, Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports notes.

The cap has not dropped since 2011. In 2009, the NFL’s salary ceiling resided at $123MM. That preceded 2010’s uncapped year, which gave way to a $120MM cap in the first season of the 2011 CBA. The cap did not climb north of $123MM until 2014, when it steadily began to increase by approximately $10MM each year. The 2020 CBA was believed to be set to produce cap spikes greater than $10MM per year, but the COVID-19 pandemic has hijacked this reality.

No force majeure provision exists in the CBA, meaning the league cannot unilaterally cut players’ pay. The NFL and NFLPA will need to collectively determine a solution, in the event the coronavirus forces games to be cut or played without fans. A fan-less season would result in the league losing approximately $2.3 billion. A cap decrease of around $50MM could be on the table for 2021, but the league and union would almost certainly make moves to avoid that considering the era-altering ramifications such an unprecedented decrease would induce.

So far, Jones notes the most common expected solution would be to borrow against future earnings. The NFL has already agreed to raise teams’ debt limits. Taking away from future earnings would lead to a flat cap for a period before perhaps a smaller increase commences at some point in a few years.

This would certainly change the way teams would proceed financially, with the cap having not endured such a lull since the early 2010s. But such a scenario would certainly be preferable to the cap cratering to nearly $140MM from its $198MM 2020 perch. Since the salary cap became the law of the land in 1994, it has only decreased once. But the strangest offseason in modern NFL history may alter the league for much of the early 2020s.

Florida Allows Pro Sports To Resume

May 13th, 2020 at 2:04pm CST by Zachary Links

It’s open season for professional sports in Florida. On Wednesday, Governor Ron DeSantis announced that teams “are welcome here for practicing and for playing” (via Daisy Ruth of WFLA).

“What I would tell commissioners of leagues is, ‘If you have a team in an area where they just won’t let them operate, we’ll find a place for ya in the state of Florida. Because we think it’s important and we know that it can be done safely,’” DeSantis said.

DeSantis’ announcement comes on the heels of a similar one from the state of Arizona. On Wednesday, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey gave major sports leagues the green light to play in his state, effective Saturday. In early May, the NFL asked teams to get plans in place for May 15th, which is this coming Friday. But, earlier today, they extended their virtual OTA protocols through the end of the month.

On June 1st, the Jaguars, Dolphins, and Buccaneers may be permitted to conduct practices, though they won’t be able to have fans in attendance. Teams in states with stay-at-home orders could also explore Florida as an option. But, for at least the next two weeks, they’ll be limited to Zoom chats.

NFL Extends Virtual Offseason

May 13th, 2020 at 12:35pm CST by Zachary Links

The NFL’s virtual offseason has been extended through end of May, a source tells ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter (on Twitter). The original plan called for V-OTAs through May 15th, but they’ll keep it remote through the end of the month to keep players safe and comply with government ordinances.

The virtual OTAs mean no on-field practices or gatherings of any sort at team facilities. The NFL’s memo extends to all 32 clubs, which means that teams won’t be permitted to have in-person offseason activities in any state, even the ones that are in the early phases of reopening. On Tuesday, the governor of Arizona announced that professional sports can resume, effective Saturday. Still, the Cardinals will not be allowed to conduct business at their facility. Ditto for the clubs that camp in California – the 49ers, Rams, Cowboys, and Chargers – who may explore out-of-state options.

The announcement does not come as a surprise. Testing is still sparse and the global situation remains as fluid as ever. The news also doesn’t have much bearing on the league’s scheduled 2020 regular season, one way or the other.

Earlier this month, the NFL asked teams to prepare for a reopening of facilities with a hopeful target date of 5/15. A “safe and phased reopening” is still on the radar, but it won’t happen earlier than June 1.

“It is impossible to project what the next few months will bring,” Goodell wrote. “Uninformed commentary that speculates on how individual clubs or the league will address a range of hypothetical contingencies serves to constructive purpose and instead confuses our fans and business partners, complicates the operations of other clubs, and distracts from the careful planning that is needed right now.”

Meanwhile, in Michigan, Governor Gretchen Whitmer says she expects limited attendance – or no attendance – at Lions games this fall.

Lions To Play In Empty Stadium?

May 13th, 2020 at 9:01am CST by Rory Parks

The NFL is going full steam ahead in its efforts to play the 2020 regular season as it otherwise would, but the optimism generated by a recent report indicating the league may be able to (mostly) proceed as normal has been tempered in recent days. For instance, the CFL’s statement that it is likely to cancel its season and reports of NFL teams exploring out-of-state options for training camp feel like harbingers of things to come rather than blips in the radar.

And as Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press writes, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer said in a radio interview yesterday that she does not expect to see Ford Field, the Lions’ home stadium, full of fans in the fall. The league has said that if it plays the 2020 season, it plans to do so in front of capacity crowds, but obviously that will be dependent on each state.

“There is reason to feel some confidence here,” Whitmer said. “But we also have to measure (peoples’) expectations and say life’s going to be different. We’re not going to be filling stadiums in the fall.”

It’s unclear whether that means Whitmer is amenable to playing with partially full or empty stadiums, and as Birkett notes, the governor was interrupted before she could finish her thought. A follow-up email from her deputy press secretary did not do much to clarify matters.

“Medical experts have made it clear that COVID-19 spreads when people are in close contact with one another, and without a vaccine, our best strategy in combating the virus is to practice social distancing,” the email read. “In regards to stadiums, our administration will continue to make informed decisions on re-engagement based upon data and medical expertise.”

Even if the NFL season is delayed, it does not sound as if Whitmer is prepared to green-light capacity crowds.

“Certainly as governor I want to give people the confidence that our plan will be met on days certain,” she said. “But the fact of the matter is, COVID-19 is a novel virus and that means it’s like nothing we’ve ever seen before. We’re learning a tremendous amount. Every week that goes by, we’ve learned so much more about this disease and what it’s going to take to keep us safe and to avoid that second wave.”

Whitmer’s stance is likely to be echoed by leaders across the country, which means that if the 2020 season does get off the ground, there will be games played without fans, and teams in more restricted states may need to play in states like Arizona, which authorized the resumption of play for major sports leagues effective May 16.

The Lions, meanwhile, issued a generic statement on the matter last week:

“The Detroit Lions are following the NFL’s lead in preparing to play a full 2020 season in front of fans. Given the evolving circumstances surrounding COVID-19, contingencies are needed and will be in place. We are evaluating all facets of the game day experience, and will do what is required to maintain a safe and healthy environment at Ford Field where our fans can feel comfortable.”

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