NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell preached diligence on COVID prevention in a memo to NFL teams hours after the first major breakout occurred in the league’s season. “These results confirm the need to remain diligent in implementing all of our health and safety protocols to the fullest extent,” Goodell said. “This includes not only our testing program, but facility maintenance, wearing of (personal protective equipment) by players and staff, and carefully regulating behavior and contacts outside of the club facility.” He also called on clubs to revisit the steps they’ve taken to minimize close contact with people outside of the team, and to remind all employees to immediately report symptoms.
The two Week 4 games most at risk as a result of the Titans COVID cases are both regional broadcasts in the 1:00pm ET window, limiting the business risk to the NFL, Fox or CBS. Vikings-Texans is slated to be distributed to less than 10% of the country, a source said, and if it’s postponed, Fox would likely swap in Browns-Cowboys in affected markets. It is not clear how CBS would handle a loss of Steelers-Titans, but there are four other games on CBS at 1:00. CBS gets the doubleheader, with Patriots-Chiefs likely being the national broadcast in the late afternoon window. CBS' Jason La Canfora reports the league has alerted the Vikings, Titans, Texans and Steelers that their "games may be rescheduled."
