NFL Preseason To Be Cancelled As Negotiations Continue

The NFL, under pressure from the Players Association, looks set to cancel the 2020 preseason entirely.

Meanwhile, agreement has been reached on training camp and health and safety protocol for players and staff.

The ability of the NFL to play the 2020 season safely has been in doubt in recent weeks. Positive test results and the closure of team facilities have led to scrutiny of the NFL and its approach.

On Sunday, several high profile players including Patrick Mahomes criticized the league for its lack of clarity surrounding these issues. 

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The league has been bullish from the start of the pandemic, insisting that it’s 2020 season will go ahead normally. As we know, team owners are all about the bottom line. This is perhaps why they pushed so hard to keep two preseason games rather than cancel it entirely.

However, following criticism from players on Sunday, the league offered the NFLPA a cancelled preseason.

It is expected that players will accept as testing protocol was also confirmed on Monday.

For the first two weeks of training camp, daily testing will be conducted. After two weeks, this will change to testing every second day provided the infection rate is below 5%.

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“This is ongoing work,” Dr. Allen Sills, the league’s chief medical officer, said. 

“There’s no finish line with health and safety, and I think these protocol are living, breathing documents, which means they will change as we get new information. They will undoubtedly be changing over time, which is what we usually see in medicine.”

As well as that, a longer training camp period is under consideration by all parties. This is what the NFLPA has been pushing for, although it has not accepted anything yet.