The NFL is quite serious about getting the conference championship games and Super Bowl played on time. How serious?
Pretty dang serious.
According to a source to Pro Football Talk, the NFL will attach Covid monitors to each of the four teams competing in the NFC and AFC Championship games, and eventually, the Super Bowl. The monitors will be charged with making sure that players and staff observe and follow all coronavirus protocols.
According to Pro Football Talk:
Of course, this will apply only to compliance in and around the team. It will be impossible to monitor the movements and behavior of players, coaches, and essential staff away from the facility or stadium. As the spread of the virus throughout most communities continues unabated, the risk of NFL employees catching it away from work continues to climb.
Still, the NFL and NFL Players Association continue to resist a bubble for the final four (or final two) teams. Voluntarily bubbles remain possible, but there seems to be little momentum toward all players, coaches, and essential staff choosing to stay in a hotel.
The NFL had to postpone several games during the course of the regular season. However, postponing a regular-season game is of course an entirely different thing than postponing the Super Bowl. The NFL is obviously in a full-court press to make sure that doesn’t happen.