The coronavirus is also messing up plans in the NFL. So now the game plan is only announced after the draft. But the league is planning a “normal” season and therefore matches in front of fans.

The Corona crisis does not leave the NFL unaffected.

After it is already clear that this year’s draft will be played without an audience and digitally, the release of the game schedule is now postponed.

Normally the league always announces in the week before the draft how the games of the regular season will look like. But due to the influence of the Coronavirus, the league will now publish the new fixture list on May 9th at the latest. This was announced by the NFL on Tuesday.

Despite the difficult situation the NFL wants to schedule a complete Regular Season with 16 games. And despite the current situation also with fans.

“Still a few months to go”
“This is what we expect,” League Vice President Jeff Pash told ESPN. Of course it is not set in stone. “Am I sure of that? I’m not even sure I’ll be here tomorrow. But I’m planning on it, and in the same way we’re planning a full season.” Sure: It’s early April, season opener is in September: “So it’s still a few months until our season starts. The faith and the information we have lead us to keep on focusing on a season that starts on time and is played normally.”

However, Troy Vincent, Executive Vice President of Football Operations, emphasised that “all options” are being considered and “we are constantly planning for emergencies”.

Pash also said the NFL wants to stick with the five International Games in 2020. Whether the four games in London and the Mexico City game can actually take place will depend on the situation in both countries.

Patriots have the toughest game plan

As far as the game plan is concerned, it doesn’t matter how the games are ultimately scheduled, one thing is already clear: The New England Patriots will have the most difficult game plan of all teams. Their opponents won an average of 53.7% of their games last season.

The Baltimore Ravens, on the other hand, will have the easiest schedule, with their opponents having won only 43.8 per cent of their games in the previous season.