According to one expert, the risk of the NFL’s season being cancelled is very low. According to his information, the league is even confident that it will be able to play the games with spectators.

In just over four months, on September 10, the NFL season 2020 is scheduled to start. At least that is the plan. But in times of the corona pandemic, no sporting event seems to be safe anymore. Mike Florio, an American sports journalist and site editor of “ProFootballTalk”, however, claims that the danger of a failure of the NFL season is very low.

Test capacities until the start of the season no longer an obstacle?
In his article he writes: “According to sources who know about the NFL’s deliberations and who can estimate the medical and scientific developments of the coming months, there is only a very small risk that there will be no NFL season in 2020”.

The biggest obstacle to getting the game going, he says, is the testing capacity. “By August, however, testing is expected to be so widespread that the testing process will be very simple,” Florio writes. “It is also expected that by then there will be enough testing for the general public to justify that all players, coaches etc. are tested before they enter a team facility or stadium. Daily testing is crucial to keep the virus out of locker rooms.”

NFL games in 2020 with spectators?
The article even raises hopes that the games could take place with spectators: “Again, virus and antibody testing to show whether a person has already had the virus will be much more readily available at the beginning of the season. That way the fans will know that they are not affected by Corona and can go to the game.” Overall, the league is “very confident” about this.

Florio continues: “The position of the league and the teams will certainly be that everyone who attends a match will do so with full awareness of the risk of contracting the virus.”

However, he does not recommend a visit to a stadium to risk groups: “People over 60 or people with certain pre-existing conditions, especially diabetes, must protect themselves and should therefore not attend a sporting event”. It is important that the affected season ticket holders may suspend a season and still be entitled to a season ticket in 2021.

A later start to the season?
However, Florio makes it clear: “None of this means that the training camps will start at the end of July or the beginning of August or that the regular season will start on Thursday, September 10th. In order to get to the point where the governors of all states with NFL stadiums agree to open the doors and let spectators in, the start of the season may have to be postponed by a few weeks.

His positive conclusion is, “It is very likely that an NFL season will happen, and it is possible, though not likely, that all 256 games will be in stadiums with fans. That may sound unrealistic given the events of the past six weeks. But great progress is already being made through various tests. And four months is an eternity in that respect.”

Whether his assessment is realistic or not, football fans should at least have enjoyed reading this.