Report: NFL Considering Shortened Season, Playing Without Fans

The NFL is considering several options in preparation for the 2020 season, when it comes to dealing with the coronavirus. Two of those options, according to the Washington Post, include a shortened season and excluding fans.

Sources informed Mark Maske of the Post, that the league’s schedule in 2020 is being structured in a way that allows for “flexibility.”

Maske also reported that fans could find themselves restricted to watching at home, instead of cheering from the stands.

The NFL did not address the specifics of Maske’s report, but confirmed that the league is actively working the problem.

As we have said, we are committed to protecting the health of our fans, players, club and league personnel, and communities. We look forward to the 2020 NFL season, and our guidelines and decisions will be guided by the latest advice from medical and public health officials, as well as current and future government regulations. We will continue to plan for the season and will be prepared to adjust as necessary, just as we have done with free agency, the draft, and now the offseason program.

Given that the regular season doesn’t start until September, the NFL doesn’t have to make any official plans for the start of the season yet. However, NFL players don’t just show up in game playing shape. The league normally has an extended offseason program in which players condition themselves by attending several mini-camps, training camps, and organized team activities. The status of those activities seems much more undecided, and are something the league will have to address a lot sooner than September.

On Wednesday, Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Diseases, said that opening sports leagues in the summertime was a possibility, but would have to be done without fans.

“There’s a way of doing that,” Fauci said. “Nobody comes to the stadium. Put [the players] in big hotels, wherever you want to play, keep them very well surveilled. … Have them tested every single week and make sure they don’t wind up infecting each other or their family, and just let them play the season out.”

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is on the panel of advisers President Trump has tapped to help plan the reopening of sports leagues across the country.