Buffalo Bills co-owner Kim Pegula took off her boss cap and put on her writing one recently with Peter King and Football Morning in America.
As a guest columnist, Pegula gave her thoughts on the ongoing issues facing the NFL this upcoming season in very uncertain times. From the continuing coronavirus pandemic to the social issues facing teams and players, numerous topics are touched on by the Bills owner.
Within those 10 subjects discussed by Pegula, she provided some insight into some of the questions the club is facing in regard to potentially having fans at New Era Field this fall. Some of these are ones you could probably guess, but others really show how deep the team is thinking.
Here’s an excerpt from Pegula’s column explaining some of the scenarios and questions facing the Bills and New Era Field:
How many fans can we get in the stadium with social distancing? What is the ticketing plan for full games, partial games, or delayed season? How do we meet our sponsors needs and concerns with assets getting taken away? Should we put in automatic faucets and automatic flushers in the bathrooms? What do post-game interviews look like if we can’t have in-person access to players? When can we tell the couple their wedding at the stadium is back on?
Pegula then mentioned some questions the team is facing in terms of training camp. The NFL insists that training camp will be happening, but for the Bills, it’s a different beast because the league also announced that teams cannot leave their home facilities to do so. The Bills’ usually training camp “setup” is down the thruway in Rochester. In 2020, it has to be put together in Orchard Park, something the team has never done before:
Training camp is a different animal—bigger staff, more players, fan access and a time to get away and focus on the upcoming season. So just when I felt that we’d gotten into a good position with some of our return-to-work protocols, we got an enormous new challenge on the training camp front. Late June and early July would normally have been a quiet period for us, but now we’re deep in the process of implementing these league protocols, relocating office space, adding utilities for outdoor space and getting interns back. There’s still a lot of unanswered questions, and even when I get answers, those answers just seem to lead to more questions.
It appears that every moment from now until July 28, when the Bills’ full team roster is expected to arrive for training camp, could be crucial for the Bills. But it’s also clear that the front office is trying to leave no stone unturned in regard to the safety of everyone, from players to fans.
While the league is holding onto hope that fans could be allowed at games when the regular season returns, it’s looking like it might be a tough task considering Buffalo, compared to other locations, is in a much better place in terms of COVID-19 outbreaks currently. If the Bills are having this much trouble, how much concern could other teams in Florida or Texas be having?
While we shared the link above to Pegula’s article, click here to find it once more.
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