The Future of the NFL Amid Coronavirus Pandemic
29 June 2020
By: Paulina Vairo
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The start of the NFL season is in limbo as coronavirus cases have been increasing in several states across the U.S. The NFL announced that teams will be able to report to training camps in late July if it is safe to do so. Many players and coaches have expressed their concerns over starting the NFL season too soon, or even having one at all during the pandemic.
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New Orleans Saints safety Malcolm Jenkins spoke about the return of football and the doubts that he has about starting the NFL back up in an interview with CNN on Thursday. “Football is a nonessential business and so we don’t need to do it. So the risk, you know, has to be really eliminated”. He also spoke about how the NFL involves “too many people’ and it will be hard for the NFL to try to place social distancing protocols, ESPN reports.
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Malcolm Jenkins, who is part of the NFL Players Association’s executive committee, discusses the upcoming NFL season in an interview with CNN, ESPN reports. (Photo Credit: Cindy Ord/Getty Images for SiriusXM)
There already has been a few NFL players who tested positive for COVID-19, including starting running back Ezekiel Elliot. After the news of Elliot’s test results was leaked to the press, he took to twitch to talk about his recovery and the future of the NFL season during the coronavirus pandemic.
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Elliot says he is unable to work out yet, but he is “feeling good”, and that the only symptoms he experienced was shortness of breath and a sore throat, Fox News reports. He also opens up about his opinion of starting the season too soon and how it can affect the players and their families.
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“I just don’t know how they can keep the players healthy. You’ve got to put the players first” Elliot says in his interview on Twitch. He also adds “We have to find a way to make sure the players and their families, and
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the coaches also their families, aren’t put at risk”. Many questions remain about how the NFL will plan to conduct games that are both safe for the players and the coaches. Wearing masks on the sideline is one, however, because the NFL involves so many players and coaches, it will be hard to maintain social distancing on the sidelines.
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Head coach for the Baltimore Ravens John Harbaugh criticizes the NFL’s reopening plan in an interview with WJZ-FM radio.
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“But this is a communication sport, so if we want to get out there and actually have any idea about what we’re doing on the field, we’ve got to communicate with each other in person. We have to practice and I’m pretty sure the huddle’s not going to be six feet apart” Harbaugh says.
Harbaugh has his doubts over how the NFL can conduct a season with social distancing guidelines in place (Photo Credit: Frederick Breedon/Getty Images)
The NFL will also have to think about what will happen if a player contracts COVID-19. What will the protocol be if it comes to that? Keeping healthy and sick players quarantined would be an option, however, it would be hard to track who was in contact with a player with the virus, and who those players were in contact with.
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Executive director Don Heider of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University spoke with ESPN about the risk of starting football too soon and if the risk is worth infecting several families of NFL players and coaches. “Is the value that resuming football brings worth the risk? How many lives would you be willing to give up having football games on Sunday?” Heider says.
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The league already canceled its Hall of Fame Game between the Dallas Cowboys and Pittsburgh Steelers that was scheduled to happen o on Aug. 6 at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton, Ohio.
(Article can also be seen on https://thegamehaus.com/nfl/the-future-of-the-nfl-amid-coronavirus-pandemic/2020/06/29/ )