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The Cincinnati Bengals issued a team statement Monday in the wake of the NFL and NFLPA finalizing major negotiating points about training camp and the preseason.
In the letter, EVP Katie Blackburn details how the team will handle training camp:
“Last Friday night, the NFL and NFLPA came to an agreement that enables us to open training camp on time. Part of this agreement says there will be no preseason games. The team will be preparing for the season opener against the Los Angeles Chargers on September 13. We remain hopeful that we will be able to host fans in a reduced capacity for our regular season games pending approval by local and state government officials.
As a result of increased safety protocols, fans and visitors will not be permitted to attend training camp practices. We know so many of our fans look forward to this experience and we will miss seeing you this year. We will work hard to bring you behind-the-scenes coverage on Bengals.com and social media throughout training camp so you can still feel close to the action.”
Training camp going down without fans isn’t much of a shocker at this point given ongoing country-wide developments, including the hurdles experienced by other sports such as the MLB.
The Bengals were already out in front of the rest of the NFL when it came to requiring masks despite a limited attendance capacity. And as we noted, they’ve got a chance to set the tone for the NFL as far as virtual tailgating goes.
Without a preseason, the Bengals will go through with a staggered schedule to training camp. Rookies continue to undergo coronavirus testing procedures after reporting this week and veterans can report this Tuesday. A slow onboarding, from simply working out to eventually getting on the practice fields will help the team prep for the regular season.
Fans won’t be in attendance this time, but the team’s ability to get creative should still have them keyed in on the must-know developments.
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