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NFL's Resolve To Finish Season Tested As Schedule Tightens

No more bye weeks on the schedule makes it that much more complicated to move games aroundGETTY IMAGES

The NFL has "long made clear that it is determined to finish the season at almost any cost," and a challenging Week 12 "showed how committed the league is to that stance -- and what it’s willing to sacrifice to make it happen," according to Danny Heifetz of THE RINGER. Week 12 "wasn’t the NFL’s first time navigating an outbreak this season," but the league has "never had this many COVID issues at once, and time is no longer on the NFL’s side." The bye weeks on the schedule are over, "making it that much more complicated to move games around." The NFL is "determined to finish the season at almost any cost," but the question is "what will it give up along the way." It "will not give up money," and "lost games equal lost revenue, so the league will explore every avenue to make sure that the games happen." But this "comes with a cost, and charging full speed ahead with the season during the pandemic brings complications" (THERINGER.com, 11/30). 

TRYING TO STAY ON TRACK: In L.A., Sam Farmer noted the league is "trying to chart a path forward by keeping the schedule somewhat intact." While there have been game postponements, there have not been any cancellations to date. While the 49ers are set to play "home" games at State Farm Stadium, "at least those games are on track to be played." Meanwhile, the Ravens-Steelers game now set to be played tomorrow afternoon is "like a discarded mattress on the freeway, getting knocked around and starting to cause a traffic jam." By moving that game to a Wednesday, the league "has to deal with a massive ripple effect." Any further postponements of Ravens-Steelers, the game that "started this mess, would require more down-the-line postponements, which would impact not only Week 13 but also Week 14." Meanwhile, with multiple teams playing on short weeks, the NFL "runs a serious risk of increased injuries and a diminished product" (L.A. TIMES, 12/1).

HOW MUCH DAMAGE BEING DONE? In West Palm Beach, Hal Habib writes the "price of seeing this out is what the NFL must weigh." Nobody "wants to see this end without a Super Bowl and a deserving champion, but nobody wants to see football if 'football' is defined by a team finishing one-for-nine passing for 13 yards, as the Broncos did." This "isn’t to advocate abandoning the season, but rather to say at a certain point down the road, the product could cease to resemble NFL football and instead become the August exhibition games the league likes to pawn off as 'preseason.'" The "only difference being, these affairs affect playoff berths" (PALM BEACH POST, 12/1). In Boston, Tara Sullivan writes if Week 12 and "all its challenges didn’t sway the NFL powers that be from their devotion to completing" the '20 season, then it is "increasingly obvious that nothing will." Sullivan: "It's time to abandon the debate about whether what the NFL is doing is wise. That ship has sailed." The discussion now is "whether the league is doing itself irreparable harm." The same "stubbornness that has made 'protecting the shield' such a driving force of NFL thinking could end up staining the league with lasting negative consequences" (BOSTON GLOBE, 12/1).

THE SHOW MUST GO ON: CNBC's Jim Cramer said, “What’s incredible is that the product is beginning to get hurt." Cramer: "All of us who are watching some of these games where there's a lot of COVID are just shocked that the NFL would allow a product to be this weak. But the show must go on is what people say” (“Squawk on the Street,” CNBC, 12/1). In Pittsburgh, Paul Zeise references the Saints-Broncos game and asks, "The NFL rolled that product out there with a straight face because, well, the show must go on?" Zeise: "I get that the NFL doesn’t want to go to the Week 18 scenario, but at some point, someone in that office in New York needs to ask themselves if a game like this is helping the brand" (PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 12/1).

CAN LEAGUE FINISH SEASON? In DC, Matthew Paras asks, "At this rate, is the NFL even going to be able to finish the season?" Washington coach Ron Rivera admitted that thought has entered his mind, saying, "If something happens and we have to pause for a week, well then it’s a bye week for everybody and then we pick up where we left off. I think that’s most certainly a doable thing if that’s what we have to do" (WASHINGTON TIMES, 12/1). But in Pittsburgh, Mark Madden wrote the NFL "will not shut down unless forced to by the government, nor should it." The NFL's aim "was, and remains, to get enough games on TV to collect on their network contracts." So far, that has happened and "will continue to happen." Problems "could double, triple or multiply by 10," but the NFL "will keep playing" (TRIBLIVE.com, 11/30).

TV MONEY IS KING: SI.com's Albert Breer wrote the NFL "very clearly wants to leave the idea of tacking a week on to the end of the season out there as a last resort." The "goal, of course, for anyone paying attention, is to deliver all 256 games scheduled to the TV networks ahead of a new set of broadcast deals being negotiated." Breer: "The thought, as I’ve heard it, is that’ll help with those talks -- and if the NFL can score as big as it believes it will, then that’ll help mitigate the cap shortfall looming over the next three years" (SI.com, 11/30).

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