Football fans have watched cautiously as the COVID-19 pandemic directly impacted all of the major sports other than their own. Apart from forcing the draft to go virtual, closing down team facilities for most of the offseason, and eating into the window for things like unofficial workouts and rookie minicamps, the global health crisis had not permanently claimed anything of substance from the NFL as it prepared for the 2020 season.
But now the first game has been taken off the schedule.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter is reporting that the league has scrapped the annual Hall of Fame Game, which had been set to take place August 6 in Canton, Ohio between the Cowboys and the Steelers.
The Dallas Cowboys-Pittsburgh Steelers preseason opener at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, on Aug. 6 is being canceled and the Hall of Fame's enshrinement ceremony on Aug. 8 is being postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, league sources told ESPN.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) June 25, 2020
Ohio’s governor had already gone on record as saying that playing the game in an empty stadium was a distinct possibility. As recently as June 16, he said of the scheduled game, “It would be very dangerous to do it today.”
Steelers defensive end Cam Heyward told the Tribune-Review that he felt playing the game under current conditions was a bad idea, saying, “We talk so much about safety. Why would we want to expose two teams to an extra game a week early?”
The NFL has agreed with that assessment, given that the country saw a new single-day record for new coronavirus cases just this week.
The Cowboys and Steelers will apparently now kick off the 2021 preseason in next year’s Hall of Fame Game, according to Shcefter’s sources.
The accompanying enshrinement ceremony, which was to include the induction of Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson and Steelers coach Bill Cowher, will also move to next summer.
Teams are scheduled to report to their facilities on July 28, but, according to Schefter, “there has been no definitive word from the NFL about whether that will happen.” Whether the Hall of Fame Game’s cancellation affects when the Cowboys players report to training camp is unknown. There was some speculation that the Cowboys and Steelers might be allowed to report earlier to allow coaches time to prepare their rosters for the game.
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