This time of year is always an anxious one for NFL teams. They are excited to prepare for the season, sure, but they also want players to avoid injuries.
And, this year, COVID-19.
“I can certainly feel the anxiety of team executives and coaches who usually worry about injuries, and now they got to worry about COVID, too,” former NFL executive and current agent Jeff Diamond told Shaun Morash and Andrew Bogusch, who were filling in as hosts of The DA Show. “It’s just really a tough situation this year, but I’ll tell you guys: the NFL is going to play because there’s too much at stake financially with the broadcast revenue. So they’re going to find a way to play.”
Several sports have implemented a bubble to ensure player safety. The NFL could do the same.
“We’ve seen the bubbles work in basketball and hockey,” Diamond said. “If they have to take these teams and move them to a couple of cities and put them in a bubble – as the NHL did in Toronto and Edmonton; as the NBA, WNBA [and] MLS did in Orlando – they’ll do it. It’ll be a lot more expensive, a lot more cumbersome to move so many players and staff, but they’re going to find a way to play this season and finish it out. I’m very confident of that because there’s just too much at stake financially for the league."
The NFL has implemented strict COVID-19 testing protcols. So far, so good.
“There are going to be some ups and downs with this thing, but I think they’re going to find a way to play,” Diamond said, “and I think that’s a good thing. I think the fans need the escape of having to be able to have an outlet and have something they can watch that they enjoy such as the NFL – and college football to a limited extent. . . . But they’re going to find a way to play.”