Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the NFL has had the luxury of time. While other sports came to a screeching halt in mid-March and started developing still pending return-to-play plans, the NFL went about its early offseason business, albeit virtually, comfortable that training camps were more than four months away and the season, of course, even more distant.
First in free agency, then with the draft and even minicamps, the NFL could fall back on a virtual solution.
But as the time horizon shrinks and sports like NASCAR, UFC and golf have returned — and as MLB has its own 67-page proposed return-to-play manualwith sections as detailed as whether to permit sunflower seeds — the NFL is still not ready to reveal how it plans to bring back arguably the least socially distanced sport. On a media call Tuesday, league officials offered few specifics about how they intend to return players to team headquarters, much less to practice fields.
Further, the June minicamps appear unlikely.
“We’re not putting dates on the calendar at this point, because I’m looking at, not as date-based, but really science- and technology-based,” Dr. Allen Sills, the NFL’s chief medical officer, said in answer to a question about the minicamps.
He almost sounded like Dr. Anthony Fauci, the federal government’s leading epidemiologist, who when asked about deadlines and dates consistently says virus sets them. Sills’ answers are similarly open-ended.
“So we feel that there are certain important steps that need to occur with regard to testing, with regard to test availability, with regard to test reliability, and also our continued evolution of understanding about how to manage exposures,” he said. “And so all of those things are continuing to evolve. And when we and the Players Association together feel like that we’re at a point of satisfaction with that science, then we’ll be ready to move forward. So it’s difficult to give you a date for that right now. But we’re moving in that direction. And we’re moving as fast as the science and the data takes us.”
Even on the question of how many tests will be required to handle camps, which typically feature, at minimum, hundreds of players and staff members, Sills did not want to offer a concrete answer.
“That’s something that we’re working through, as you know. … We could spend an hour talking about the nuances of testing of all the different types of tests and … the pros and cons of each of those tests,” he said. “And I think that testing is an area where we’re going to see continued very rapid evolution over the next few weeks and months. And so it is a situation that we’re monitoring very carefully, and that we will continue, again collaboratively with the Players Association, to work together with what we think are the best solutions.
“And in doing that, though … (it) is very, very important we want to make sure that we’re in no way affecting the supply of tests that are needed by the health care system, in any of our markets around the country at large.”
Major League Baseball plans to skirt that issue by using its own Utah lab, used for minor-league drug testing, for COVID-19 tests. After the NFL call, Jeff Miller, the NFL executive vice president of communications, public affairs and policy, fielding a question about whether the NFL had a similar option, emailed: “We’re exploring a number of testing solutions and laboratory options recommended by our joint NFL-NFLPA task force. We’ll be guided by the experts as the science continues to evolve.”
One area the league was clear with on the call: A positive COVID-19 test result in training camp won’t necessarily bring that team to a stop.
“We fully expect that we will have positive cases that arise because we think that this disease will remain endemic in society,” Sills said. “And so it shouldn’t be a surprise that new positive cases arise. Our challenge is to identify them as quickly as possible and to prevent spread to any other participants. So we’re working very diligently on that, we’ll have some detailed plans to share about that at a later time.”
The NFL began limited facility openings Tuesday for business staffers, although not all teams that could open took advantage. Virtual offseason programs run through May 29, and the offseason end date is June 26. The first training camp, with the Baltimore Ravens, is scheduled to open July 22.
First in free agency, then with the draft and even minicamps, the NFL could fall back on a virtual solution.
But as the time horizon shrinks and sports like NASCAR, UFC and golf have returned — and as MLB has its own 67-page proposed return-to-play manualwith sections as detailed as whether to permit sunflower seeds — the NFL is still not ready to reveal how it plans to bring back arguably the least socially distanced sport. On a media call Tuesday, league officials offered few specifics about how they intend to return players to team headquarters, much less to practice fields.
Further, the June minicamps appear unlikely.
“We’re not putting dates on the calendar at this point, because I’m looking at, not as date-based, but really science- and technology-based,” Dr. Allen Sills, the NFL’s chief medical officer, said in answer to a question about the minicamps.
He almost sounded like Dr. Anthony Fauci, the federal government’s leading epidemiologist, who when asked about deadlines and dates consistently says virus sets them. Sills’ answers are similarly open-ended.
“So we feel that there are certain important steps that need to occur with regard to testing, with regard to test availability, with regard to test reliability, and also our continued evolution of understanding about how to manage exposures,” he said. “And so all of those things are continuing to evolve. And when we and the Players Association together feel like that we’re at a point of satisfaction with that science, then we’ll be ready to move forward. So it’s difficult to give you a date for that right now. But we’re moving in that direction. And we’re moving as fast as the science and the data takes us.”
Even on the question of how many tests will be required to handle camps, which typically feature, at minimum, hundreds of players and staff members, Sills did not want to offer a concrete answer.
“That’s something that we’re working through, as you know. … We could spend an hour talking about the nuances of testing of all the different types of tests and … the pros and cons of each of those tests,” he said. “And I think that testing is an area where we’re going to see continued very rapid evolution over the next few weeks and months. And so it is a situation that we’re monitoring very carefully, and that we will continue, again collaboratively with the Players Association, to work together with what we think are the best solutions.
“And in doing that, though … (it) is very, very important we want to make sure that we’re in no way affecting the supply of tests that are needed by the health care system, in any of our markets around the country at large.”
Major League Baseball plans to skirt that issue by using its own Utah lab, used for minor-league drug testing, for COVID-19 tests. After the NFL call, Jeff Miller, the NFL executive vice president of communications, public affairs and policy, fielding a question about whether the NFL had a similar option, emailed: “We’re exploring a number of testing solutions and laboratory options recommended by our joint NFL-NFLPA task force. We’ll be guided by the experts as the science continues to evolve.”
One area the league was clear with on the call: A positive COVID-19 test result in training camp won’t necessarily bring that team to a stop.
“We fully expect that we will have positive cases that arise because we think that this disease will remain endemic in society,” Sills said. “And so it shouldn’t be a surprise that new positive cases arise. Our challenge is to identify them as quickly as possible and to prevent spread to any other participants. So we’re working very diligently on that, we’ll have some detailed plans to share about that at a later time.”
The NFL began limited facility openings Tuesday for business staffers, although not all teams that could open took advantage. Virtual offseason programs run through May 29, and the offseason end date is June 26. The first training camp, with the Baltimore Ravens, is scheduled to open July 22.
Damn that sucks for him
