A lot has been reported over the past week about the NFL’s struggle to achieve a cohesive plan in its quest to hold a full-season this fall despite the COVID-19 pandemic. The primary issued that the league has faced include health and safety protocols, fan-attendance, player compensation with reduced revenue and whether or not there will be preseason games. The latter topic has been a point of contention between the league and the NFLPA.
Originally, it was reported that the NFLPA took a hard stance that there’s should not be any preseason games played while the NFL had previously proposed just a two-game preseason–slashing that in half from the usual four. In response, the NFL is now proposing – per NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero– that just one game be played on, traditionally, the third week of preseason or the “dress rehearsal” game, but the NFLPA is reportedly dug in on its stance that there should not be any preseason games played. All that said, there is more optimism around the league that a deal is close to being reached.
This is just one of the many issued that NFL needs to figure out since they seemed to have squandered the ample time that they had when it became clear that sports would need to adjust their practices in order to return in 2020. With players supposed to report to training camps as early as Monday, there had been increasing pressure from many public figures within the league for progress. For example, in a coordinated effort, many NFL players took to Twitter to express their frustration and concern about the NFL’s return policies–or lack thereof. Some of these players included Russell Wilson, Drew Brees and Myles Garret.
Despite all of these frustrations, there seems to be a growing momentum that the NFL can iron out these issues in time to start the season on time but the proverbial window is visibly closing now. The NFL owners have scheduled a call on Monday at 2 p.m. ET with the hopes of finalizing many aspects of the return such as health and safety protocols and fan attendance. This meeting, as well as many of the negotiations this upcoming week, will determine when and if we get to see football this September.
