It’s opening day! The sun is shining and the boys of summer are ready to hit the diamond for another season of Major League Baseball. The fans are ready to take to their seats with a hot dog, nachos and a cold one.
But as ready as they might be, the stadiums and parks across the nation will remain baron with no timetable for when games will be played. The coronavirus outbreak has ensured there will be no sports of any kind played in the US for an indefinite amount of time.
Thus far, the NFL has been relatively unaffected. The 2020 league year and free agency opened on time and as of yet, there is no indication the draft will be pushed back. Although the festivities in Las Vegas have been canceled.
Recently half the NFL delayed deadlines for season ticket payments, the Raiders included. This is in part because of the financial hardships people are facing with the coronavirus, But fans may also be understandably hesitant to plunk down large sums of money on tickets for a season that is in a state of uncertainty.
The first shoe has dropped, though, and some worry the season could be next.
That first shoe to drop was off-season activities being canceled until further notice. Whenever there is a delay in one thing, it often pushes everything else back as well. If this drags on, training camp would be next, followed by the preseason, and ultimately the start of the regular season.
Training camp is an important part of the season. They can’t just skip over it entirely and start playing football if/when the ban on large gatherings is lifted. Once they’re allowed to reconvene as a team, at least a good month of preparation is needed.
Players have to familiarize themselves with the playbook, practice it, and get in football shape. Coaches have to figure out which players are going to make it through the roster cut from the 90-man off-season roster to the 53-man regular-season roster.
A delay wouldn’t necessarily mean canceling any NFL games. It could be a shortened season or simply a postponed one. For instance, instead of camp starting in late July, it starts in late August or early September. Then the season starts in October and the Super Bowl happens in March. The college football season would also be looking at a delay, so really, it would just mean no NFL spring break.
Again, nothing has been decided yet, but the spread of the coronavirus is still on the uptick with no sure sign of when it will level off, let alone come back down. All experts and evidence suggest the worst is yet to come, which could mean months before we approach even a timeline for a return to normalcy.
For now, NFL fans should be thankful they aren’t in the same boat as the NBA or MLB with their seasons in jeopardy entirely. The NBA was stopped midseason and MLB never got started at all. Those leagues and their fans would love it if their sports simply faced a delay to the start of the season.
[vertical-gallery id=62676]
[lawrence-newsletter]