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[Editor’s note: Sports agent Leigh Steinberg is writing a series of guest columns for Touchdown Wire examining pro football topics from his perspective of expertise after more than four decades in and around the game.]
The record television ratings for the 2020 NFL Draft illustrate the great hunger that exists for the return of NFL football. The draft dominated the sports news cycle for weeks and captured great audience numbers. I believe that all NFL stakeholders, starting with the league office, individual NFL teams and broadcast partners, will seize an opportunity to be thought leaders in how America brings back live sports over the next four months.
From the Super Bowl, to the scouting combine, to the draft and the forthcoming announcement of next season’s schedule, the NFL has done a great job of creating sports content. Now, the NFL has time on its side compared to the NBA, NHL and MLB with the start of the regular season more than four months away.
So how does the NFL conduct a season facing and unprecedented health emergency caused by the coronavirus? Scouting for the draft was limited, with no in-person contact between teams and draftees allowed after mid-March. Ordinarily, the NFL calendar soon would feature rookie minicamps and veteran minicamps, followed by OTAs at team facilities. Those instead will be supplanted by virtual OTAs. This takes away the great advantage that contemporary rookies and franchises typically have to spend weeks together building chemistry. By working together in person with coaches and other players and mastering the playbook, this normally helps players to show up for training camp in July with an enhanced level of familiarity and advancement in the offseason program.
How the NFL handles this challenge will have massive implications beyond the practical questions. The NFL is by far the most popular sport in America, as well as the most popular televised form of entertainment. It looms large over American culture. So every detail of how this season rolls out will be heavily scrutinized and symbolic for the rest of the sports landscape.
The foremost consideration will be protecting the health and safety of team personnel, players and fans. Unfortunately, no one can accurately predict what the state of the coronavirus crisis will be in late July, when training camps ordinarily open.
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What could a 2020 NFL season look like? Players already live in quarantine-type settings for the first few weeks of training camp. They could report to camp and be tested to see if they have or previously had the virus. Those who are deemed healthy could have their temperatures checked daily and be closely monitored to maintain the overall health of the players, coaches and staff. A player who tests positive or becomes sick could be quarantined until he is fully recovered.
The season still could have a normal start date. We will find out more when the schedule is released, which is expected to happen later this week. Players report to the facility every day for practice, and testing could take place there as well. Whatever the NFL decides will be handled collectively, with all 32 teams following the same safety practices.
If games are played on time, the next question is who can attend. Playing games with no fans present is an option. In that case, pregame and postgame festivities, game coverage, fantasy football and merchandise purchases all could be sustained. The existing television contracts with the networks would be honored. National television provides roughly $200 million per franchise for the season and is the largest form of revenue. The broadcasts would have the same graphics, production values and announcers with or without fans, although the lack of crowd noise and fan shots would have to be creatively addressed by the league’s broadcast partners.
If there were no gate ticket receipts, it would signal an immense revenue hit for franchises. Owners probably would approach the NFLPA seeking some kind of relief from the obligations to pay players at the same contractually mandated figures. Given the fact that a new collective bargaining agreement was finished unexpectedly earlier this offseason, without the heavy posturing and acrimony that past negotiations have engendered, perhaps that same spirit could yield a deal quickly.
Games played without fans would create an eerie atmosphere in stadiums. Players are used to feeding off the energy of fans, especially at home, and no one really knows how this would alter competitive balance and performance. Synergistic interplay between fans and players would be missing. Maybe there are ways for teams to feature some of their most loyal fans on the broadcast, as they did during the draft. Creativity and ingenuity will be welcomed if it brings back sports and camaraderie.
From a competitive standpoint, the lack of crowd noise certainly would make life easier on an offense trying to overcome a difficult third-down conversion on the road. It would be interesting to see if the resulting number of offside penalties would be reflected in the stat sheet.
Now, what if there were a regulated amount of fans at these games? Perhaps spectators could be spread out in seat locations that maintain social distancing. This might mean that stadiums would sell only a fraction of their usual seating capacity, using scientific input to determine a safe number.
Fans could have their temperatures checked as they entered the stadium. More antibacterial soap dispensers could be installed, disinfectant wipes and plastic gloves could be made available. There could be a requirement for fans to wear masks. For the most part, Americans across the country have complied beautifully with state mandates and requests to stay home — so I’m sure they will comply with practices that allow them to safely attend their favorite sporting events.
Could concessions and memorabilia be sold? Stadium staff could place six-foot distance markings on the ground for concessionaires and perhaps open fewer stands, allowing fans to maneuver through concourses with more space.
Could stadiums accommodate full crowds safely in 2020? That depends on the progress that is made in containment between now and then. It is a safer for government officials and media alarmists to take a position that completely eliminates risk.
This football season should be played as normally as possible for the sake of athletes with short playing careers, thousands of jobs provided by the industry, and the enjoyment of fans across the country. Creative thinking can be combined with prudence for the benefit of all involved.
Leigh Steinberg pioneered the agent industry on his way to becoming the preeminent agent in the sports world. With an unrivaled history of record-setting contracts, Leigh has secured more than $3 billion for 300-plus pro athlete clients and directed more than $750 million to various charities around the world. He has represented the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL draft an unprecedented eight times. He also has represented 10 Hall of Famers — Warren Moon, Troy Aikman, Steve Young, Derrick Thomas, Bruce Smith, Thurman Thomas, Kevin Greene, Kenny Easley, Howie Long and Edgerrin James — 62 first-round draft picks and over 150 Pro Bowl clients. In Leigh’s current practice, he partners with Chris Cabott to represent Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Jones, Jayon Brown and many other rising stars.