The NFL draft sells hope to fans of every team when it comes to their chances for the 2020 season. The NFL Commissioner has been selling hope to fans of all teams when it comes to the chances that there will be a 2020 season.
Via Sports Business Daily, Commissioner Roger Goodell reiterated in an appearance on ESPN that the league is operating under the notion that it will be “ready to go” for the 2020 football season, with no delays. He declined to speculate regarding “things that could happen that can prevent that from occurring.”
“We obviously put public safety as a priority one,” Goodell added. “We’ve demonstrated that when we have natural tragedies such as hurricanes that we always make sure we’re doing the right things.”
Goodell explained that the league is working with the CDC and the NIH regarding the establishment of work procedures, acknowledging that, ultimately, the league and the owners would decide whether the start of the season will be delayed.
Whenever games can be played, the separate question becomes whether fans can attend.
“We’re going to do the things we need to do to make sure we’re operating safely, and that includes our fans,” Goodell said. “Everything’s on the table. We’ve got to be smart. We want to try to do what we can to continue playing football, but doing it correctly and safely.”
He’s right. Everything is on the table, and a specific plan needs to be in place for whatever it is that goes from being on the table to becoming the NFL’s reality for the months of September through early February.
The next clue as to contingency planning will come from the regular-season schedule, which will be released May 9. Some believe that the schedule will be front loaded with interconference games, making it easy to ditch the first four games of the season, if the season ultimately shrinks from 16 to 12 games.