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NFL cancels two weeks of the 2020 preseason
Vincent Frank
This shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise after the NFLcanceled the 2020 Hall of Fame Game Sobering news broke early Thursday morning when ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported the NFL Hall of Fame Game has been canceled. The Dallas Cowboys and Pittsburgh Steelers were slated to play on Aug. 6 but will instead have to wait a year to play in Canton. Additionally, the Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony this summer is reportedly delayed until next summer as well. The Cowboys and Steelers, who were scheduled to play in this year’s preseason opener, now are expected to play in the 2021 Hall of Fame game next summer, per sources. The HOF enshrinement ceremony also is expected to be held then.https://t.co/1dGl2DX2iq This development also causes a ripple effect. It bumps the two teams’ training camp schedule and could herald other reporting date changes as well. Cowboys and Steelers had been scheduled to report to training camp July 22 – six days ahead of most other NFL teams – because of the Hall of Fame game. But now their reporting date will be pushed back; question is whether others will, too. It’s the first NFL-related event that has been forced to cancel this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Is it the last? That’s what was on everyone’s mind as news broke that the Hall of Fame Game is being canceled. NFL Hall of Fame Classic has been cancelled. I have a feeling that’s just the beginning. This sucks! Hall of Fame Game cancelled. They bout to take the NFL 😫 A disaster for, my hometown, Canton. The city has invested millions leading up the NFL centennial. Even if 2021 bounces back, it will never be what 2020 was supposed to be. Taxpayers now own a $12m "Centennial Plaza" for a celebration that isnt happening.https://t.co/RompQZUevE Is this the first step toward no@NFLseason. The Hall of fame game cancelled. As well as the induction.@ProFootballHOF BREAKING: The#NFLhas canceled the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game between the#Steelersand#Cowboysdue to the COVID-19 pandemic, per@AdamSchefter. The cancellation could be an indication that the league plans fo shorten this year's preseason. Had to be done. Too much risk for NFL fans coming in from different parts of the country to Canton. The last thing Ohio needed was Canton, Ohio being the latest#COVID19hotspot following the 2020 Pro Football Hall of Fame ceremony and game.#NFL#HOFhttps://t.co/AqzDA5qx8LSports world reacts to NFL Hall of Fame Game being canceled
Details on the Hall of Fame Game being canceled
Amid the ongoing pandemic, the league has decided to make more moves ahead of the regular season starting Sept. 10.
NFL scraps two weeks of the preseason
According to Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio, the NFL has decided to cancel Weeks 1 and 4 of the preseason.
“The move was driven by two primary factors. First, teams who will be playing preseason games on the road won’t want to move that many people. Second, given that no teams had on-field practice sessions in the offseason, coaches would rather have the extra time to work with their teams, and that will happen if they don’t have to worry about two extra preseason games,”the report read.
Each team will now play just two preseason games next month. Fans won’t be terribly upset over this, either. Most had been calling for the NFL to shorten its exhibition slate.
What does this mean for the 2020 NFL season?
Nothing really. As the report notes, a lack of in-person off-season workouts the spring and summer played a role in this. The league is also concerned with players and personnel moving around during the summer months given the uptick in COVID-19 cases around the United States
NFL training camps still slated to start as planned
This has no bearing on thestart of training camps later this month It was just earlier on Thursday that theNFL decidedto cancel the Hall of Fame Game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys while pushing back the induction ceremony until next summer. Some took this as a reason to believe training camps, the preseason and the start of the regular year might be delayed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Not so fast. NFL general counsel Jeff Pash says the clubs have been advised the training camp will be opening on schedule. "For most clubs, that'd be July 28." Non-committal on preseason changes but decisions will come "relatively soon." As with other sports leagues, it’s going to be all about testing for the virus. The league apparently has a broad plan in place for that, too. NFL Chief Doc Allen Sills: "We're setting up a very ambitious testing program.” He notes that "testing alone will not be sufficient to keep everyone healthy. It’s vitally important to keep social distances and use masks when possible." It’s all very ambitious at this point given the growing number of COVID-19 cases in some of the most populous states in America. That includes California, Arizona, Texas and Florida all boasting record high single-day cases over the past week. The league was non-committal about how the 2020 preseason might look. It was previously noted that schedules would beshortened to two games per team. Given that the league has already canceled the 2020 Hall of Fame Game, it seems to suggest that further action will be taken here soon. It’s also important to note that fans wouldn’t necessarily be against this. This is now a major question. At this clip, it’s going to be extremely difficult for the Los Angeles-based teams as well as those in Texas and Florida to host games even without fans in attendance. There’s still time to bend the COVID-19 curve, but therecent uptick of cases in these statesis obviously alarming. As for the NFL, it is hellbent on starting the season on time Sept. 10 with the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs hosting the Houston Texans. Time will tell on that front.NFL training camps to open on time late next month
NFL announces that training camps will start as scheduled on July 28
How will the 2020 NFL preseason look?
Will the 2020 NFL season start on time?
