As the NFL prepares to play its 2020 season amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the league knows that testing players and staff will be crucial to sustaining a 17-week schedule. For that to happen, the NFL is preparing for it to cost a staggering amount.
NFL will spend approximately $75 million on COVID-19 tests
Amid growing concern from players about the safety risks of playing during the coronavirus pandemic, the NFL agreed to test personnel daily for the first two weeks of training camp. Given there are 32 teams and each will have 100-plus people that need to be tested for COVID-19, the move will tie up a lot of resources.
Of course, that won’t be the end of the NFL’s COVID-19 testing protocols. The league is also offering to test family members of players and staff and it will test personnel multiple times per week when the regular season begins. As a result, the financial cost is quickly adding up.
According to Sports Business Daily’s Ben Fischer, via ProFootballTalk, the NFL expects to spend around $75 million on COVID-19 tests for players, coaches and personnel this year.
There are 256 regular-season games and 13 playoff games on the NFL’s 2020 schedule, making regular testing crucial for the sustainability of this season. It’s also why, per ProFootballTalk, the NFL hired BioReference Laboratories to oversee the testing.
Each team will receive 120 tests per day and any additional test will cost the club $125 each. The NFL will divide the total fee owed to BioReference Laboratories among all 32 teams.
The league is already at risk of losing billions of dollars in revenue this season with stadium attendance greatly reduced. While the $75 million price tag will be costly, it’s a far more affordable option than the pandemic wiping out the entire 2020 season.