The NFL is considering Los Angeles and Dallas as potential locations for a playoff “bubble”.
What We Know:
- The NFL has been discussing different potential ideas for a “bubble,” similar to the NBA and WNBA. The safety of live sports has been significantly impacted by the coronavirus pandemic and the NFL is a prime example of that. The Tennessee Titans have endured their own outbreak over the last two weeks.
- The NFL has been conducting their games basically business as usual. Teams are still traveling for home and away games. Most teams are not allowing fan attendance, but there is no league-wide protocol prohibiting in-person attendance at stadiums. The inconsistencies in team protocols and frequent traveling has allowed players and team employees to be exposed to the virus.
- The NBA and WNBA held shortened seasons and playoffs in controlled “bubble” environments with good success. The bubbles are very resource and personnel intensive and it requires a great deal of sacrifice from players and staff, but neither the NBA nor the WNBA recorded any new coronavirus cases.
- The NFL is not considering playing the rest of the regular season in a bubble or even in 32 individual bubbles, but using neutral sites for the divisional round of the playoffs and beyond is still on the table. Additionally, the league is trying to alter the schedule to make time for games postponed due to the coronavirus.
The NFL has a lot of discussions ahead of them, including the format of the rest of the season and whether every team will get to play 16 games. Commissioner Roger Goodell said when the season schedule was announced that the league would be “prepared to make adjustments as necessary”.
