A $350,000 fine was levied on the Titans for failing to follow COVID-19 protocols that led to an outbreakGETTY IMAGES
The latest coronavirus surge has "crashed into the sports world again and is slowly disabling the leagues that are in season," according to Beaton & Cohen of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. The industry faces the same problem it did when sports came to a complete halt in March -- "only this time leagues are trying to bulldoze throughout the pandemic." The last time the pandemic was this "grim," sports had "no chance but to stop." Now cases and hospitalizations per day in the U.S. "have reached new highs, but the economic imperatives for the leagues haven't changed." The NFL had "managed to make it through most of its season with few disruptions -- and then it suddenly faces a series of simultaneous calamities that has the league teetering." The threadbare college football season also "threatened to unravel as more than a dozen games were postponed or canceled over the weekend." The promise of vaccines was an "incentive for sports to play it safe for the next few months," but when the vaccine breakthroughs were announced in early November, the NBA and other leagues "had already decided not to bubble again." NFL execs and players "never thought it was feasible to bubble players for the entire season," and the league "isn't considering pausing the regular season to build one now." A source said that there is "no better excuse for them to reconsider than the Super Bowl," and the NFL is "still in discussions to create bubble environments for the playoffs" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 12/1).
WATCH AND LEARN? In N.Y., Bradford William Davis noted every other American sports league "struggled to play ball through a public health crisis before the NFL ran a single play." NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell was "able to stage a season after watching everyone else bomb their endeavors from the socially-distant comfort of his couch." The NFL only "tightened its protocols after dealing with an inglorious outbreak." The NFL "kept everything intact going as far as the law allowed with their day to day operations." This consisted of regular travel across the country, "in and out of areas saturated by the virus, with mask-wearing optional unless the local health authorities required it." Goodell's recent memo to league owners "confirms what every other decision they made implied: the NFL has every intention of playing a full 17-game season, plus the postseason. Exactly as planned." Davis: "Which, again, provokes the question, was the NFL paying any attention to the dress rehearsals of this summer?" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 12/1).
NEW PRECEDENT: YAHOO SPORTS' Charles Robinson wondered, "What in the living hell is the NFL's standard for stopping the season for a week?" Robinson: "And moreover, what's the point of having an extra four weeks of breathing room for the Super Bowl if the league refuses to use even one of those weeks to take a reset when it so badly appears to be needed?" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 12/1). In N.Y., Kurt Streeter notes professional football, which "helped set the tone for a return to sports because of its vast popularity," is an "utter mess." So much so that it is "simply time for the NFL to press pause, regroup and rethink its approach." The NFL "looks like it is running a circus." It would be "better to pause the season now, retool the health protocols and wait out the coming storm." If the virus "recedes to controllable levels by the early part of 2021, resume with a shortened playoff and a Super Bowl -- ditching the current plan to allow fans in the stands at that game." Streeter: "An even wiser option: End the season now." But it has come to this: "For the sake of us all, stop play. Prepare instead for a return in the fall of 2021, when a vaccine has a chance to help life return to something close to normal" (N.Y. TIMES, 12/2).
FROM THE TOP: In N.Y., Pat Leonard wrote there are plenty of individuals, including people in positions of authority, who "have worked hard to raise awareness and set a good example," but without strong leadership from the top, the system "breaks down." These owners "certainly care about the health and safety of their employees and have prioritized that in their protocols and plans to try to complete the 2020 NFL season." But it is a "simple fact" that the NFL owners' "off-field interests have created this collision course with their on-field bottom line." Not every organization is "enacting and enforcing those protocols strongly enough to give us confidence that this season is definitely going to be completed" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 12/1). In DC, Mark Maske writes those "decrying a double standard fail to grasp about the NFL's bid to play a complete 2020 season amid the pandemic: Fair has nothing to do with it." The NFL had told teams that this season is "not about competitive equity; it's about trying to find ways to get a season played as safely and fully as possible." Even if some disagree with the approach, the NFL is "not about to change course" (WASHINGTON POST, 12/2). In Toronto, Scott Stinson writes there has "always been a weird disconnect" between the NFL's "puffed-out self-importance and the way it conducts its games." But the events of this season, and especially of the past week, have "driven that point home to a previously unimaginable degree." The league's "desire to barrel on through it while still having players and staff moving around their communities and travel between cities, have made an utter mockery of competitive integrity" (NATIONAL POST, 12/2).
