With the NBA, NHL and MLB currently working to get back to action after months on hiatus, we’ve seen a number of players decide against returning thanks to concerns regarding COVID-19. As part of each league’s respective return-to-play plan, athletes have the right to opt out of competing if they don’t feel comfortable doing so during the pandemic.
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It sounds like we’ll soon be able to add NFL players to the list of athletes that will have the opportunity to opt out.
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This shouldn’t really come as much of a surprise; it only makes sense for the league to give players the option to skip the season if they’re not comfortable, especially if they’re high-risk or have loved ones who are high-risk.
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The NFLPA has also sent a list of recommendations to the league with regards to approaches and practices to combat COVID-19 during upcoming training camps — you can check out a rundown of those suggestions right here.
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Also worth noting from the NFL yesterday: The Ravens announced that they’re going to cap their stadium attendance at 14,000 this season (an 81.3% cut from its normal capacity of 71,000) if fans are permitted at all. The NFL is still holding out hope that they’ll be able to play in front of fans this year and teams will be allowed to dictate their own stadium’s capacity depending on local health and safety suggestions.
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There is a TON up in the air when it comes to the NFL right now. We don’t know if they’ll be able to play. If they are able to play, we don’t know which players might opt out. We don’t know if fans will be able to attend games. If they are able to attend games, we don’t know what the range of capacities across the league will look like. And we don’t know how teams will plan on utilizing and spacing that limited capacity throughout the stadium.
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In short, we basically know nothing at this point. Isn’t that fun?
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