Report: NFLPA unanimously votes against having any preseason games amid COVID-19 pandemic
The NFL has already reportedly cut its preseason schedule in half due to the COVID-19 pandemic this week.
The NFL Players Association, however, apparently wants them all gone.
The NFLPA’s board of player representatives voted unanimously to recommend not playing any preseason games at all this fall on Thursday night, according to ESPN’s Dan Graziano.
The NFL has yet to formally announce the elimination of two preseason games — it’s expected to cut Week 1 and Week 4. According to ESPN, it’s not clear if the league will even listen to the NFLPA’s recommendation.
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The NFL regular season is currently scheduled to start on Sept. 10, and most teams are set to kick off training camp on July 28. The league is still planning to hold the regular season as scheduled, too, despite the massive spike in coronavirus cases across the country.
There were more than 2.7 million confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the United States as of Friday afternoon, according to The New York Times, and nearly 130,000 deaths attributed to it. The county recorded more than 55,500 confirmed cases on Thursday alone, too, a new single-day record. Cases are surging in several states with NFL teams, too, including California, Florida, Arizona, Texas, Nevada and more.
Though a lot can happen between now and the scheduled start of the regular season, it’s clear there are still a lot of details to be worked out when it comes to safely playing football amid the global pandemic. Once the league finalizes its plan for the preseason — be that four games, two games or a cancelation altogether — the regular season is sure to be next.
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