The NFL "likely will move games from Sundays to Saturday, if college football doesn't proceed this season," according to a source cited by Mike Florio of PRO FOOTBALL TALK. It is "unclear whether the games would be broadcast, streamed, or distributed on a pay-per-view basis, but the league likely would backfill the vacant Saturday windows with NFL content" (NBCSPORTS.com, 8/8). Florio said the NFL "would be inclined" to “pick three games from the Sunday schedule and jam them into Saturday." The league would need to get an "exception to the anti-trust exemption that currently prevents the NFL from televising games on Fridays or Saturdays between Labor Day and early December" (“PFT,” NBCSN, 8/10).
PLAYED IN FULL? Florio noted the NFL has a "high degree of confidence that the 2020 season will be played in full, pandemic notwithstanding." A hardened bubble in some cities "may become necessary, with extended 'voluntary' hotel stays by players, coaches, and essential staff who would remain away from family in order to avoid becoming infected by kids, spouses, or others." But it is believed that if the virus can be limited, it will become "easier not harder when the time comes to play games" (NBCSPORTS.com, 8/8). NBC SPORTS' Peter King writes there is "good reason to be optimistic, at least for this season to kick off." The NFL Players Association reported that as of Thursday, 56 players had tested positive for the virus, "including pre-camp and daily testing once camp started." The majority of those players "returned to their teams, virus-free." But the "key, obviously, will be how players handle more post-training-camp freedom once they’re in regular-season mode" (NBCSPORTS.com, 8/10).
LUCKY BREAK? In Boston, Ben Volin wrote all things considered, 67 players out of about 2,600 is "not a significant number of opt outs." Volin: "Frankly, the NFL is lucky that most star players didn't use their leverage and opt out" (BOSTON GLOBE, 8/9).
