Stephen Ross Says to Expect Football in 2020
While the COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on professional sports in North America, arguably the league least affected by it was the NFL. The league was in its normal offseason period when all the other pro leagues were put on pause or delayed on March 12. Since that point, the team went through free agency with limited hiccups. After that, the NFL Draft took place, with it being moved to a virtual draft via Zoom and things of that nature instead of in front of a vocal crowd, which this season would have come from Vegas. Meanwhile, undrafted free agents have been signed and teams have started their offseason activities to get players up to speed, albeit virtually instead of at team facilities.
We’ve heard that teams plan on having training camps as normal later this summer and the league plans on having the regular season starting on time. That would be the Thursday night season opening game between the Houston Texans and the defending Super Bowl champs, the Kansas City Chiefs. In addition, Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports says that teams could have head coaches coming back next week and teams having actual minicamps June 15 through 27. That would be a major step forward for the league in regards to sticking to that timeline.
As far as the regular season goes, there are some owners who think that there certainly will be a season and who plan on seeing at least some fans in the stands. Miami owner Stephen Ross, in an interview with CNBC, reiterated those concepts in his conversation Tuesday.
"I think there definitely will be a football season this year. Real question is, will there be fans in the stadium? Right now -- today -- we're planning to have fans in the stadium." Ross went on to add: "We all miss our sports. The NFL, I think, will be ready to go. I know we're all looking forward to it. I know I am."
The Dolphins had created a mock model of their stadium with a plan that would allow them to have roughly 15,000 fans in attendance. Of course, that would require fans wearing masks, entering and exiting through specific entrances and exits along with ordering food at their seats as opposed to wandering through the concourses to get to the concessions. After the league allowed team facilities to open back up on May 19 in localities where stay-at-home restrictions were loosened, it was another step toward the league having business as usual. With New York State opening over the weekend to pro sports teams, that was another major boost, especially given how hard-hit the state, especially the New York City area, was by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The NFL gets the benefit of seeing how other leagues deal with the COVID-19 pandemic going forward before they have to make any final decisions. That could be a major advantage as it gives them an opportunity to see what has worked and how the leagues have dealt with the situation. We’re looking at a lot of uncertainty but the league is intent on having a season right now. Hopefully, that remains to be the same two or three months from now.