NFL Preparing for all Options: Including No Fans

[major]

8 hours ago, BuffaloBaumer said:

Sports and concerts are done for 2020

Except for golf and nascar 

[Mr. WEO]

24 minutes ago, major said:

Except for golf and nascar 

 

 

He said sports...

[Augie]

7 hours ago, machine gun kelly said:

Trout, I think you’re comments are plausible.  If they have an accurate rapid test, you can see players and staff getting tested before any contact in practices, and games.  The fans in the stands I don’t believe will happen.  They won’t take any chances unless they have a vaccine which is doubtful.  My father unfortunately because of his age doesn’t know why they aren’t using more widespread the hydroxychloroquine as a treatment.  I told him, there are serious risks of cardiac and retinal problems so only being used on the most sick.

 

We just don’t have an effective treatment yet.  I love football as much as all of you, but not at the risk of this pandemic starting up again given the assumption things tail off over the summer.

 

The fans in the stands would fix itself if people were smart. I love going to one home game and one road game a year. It’s a treat I look forward to every year. I can’t imagine a scenario where I will attend a game this season with 65,000 other people crammed into a stadium with me. You guys are great.....but I’ll probably pass anyway. 

 

Unfortunately, the average fan has as much sense as the people attending spring break or Mardis Gras. It will probably be strictly a TV event if it happens at all, at least initially. 

 

Having said all that, that’s waaaay down the road at this point, and I’m hoping for some miracle solution from some of the very smart people working on both the virus and how we can get back to a new “normal”. 

[TheBrownBear]

Next year will be funny when the refs throw a social distancing personal foul flag when a defensive player comes within 6' of Tom Brady.  Oh wait...

[Punching Bag]

17 minutes ago, TheBrownBear said:

Next year will be funny when the refs throw a social distancing personal foul flag when a defensive player comes within 6' of Tom Brady.  Oh wait...

 

it would not surprise me if zebras made up a rule like the "tucks" rule which gave me diarrhea. 

[CEN-CAL17]

Honestly just hold the games at like HS/Juco/ Smaller college stadiums. Limited seating, environment is more open, don’t need concessions etc, don’t worry about season ticket holders complaining cause it’s not for the seats they paid for. Just put the tickets up for sale, maybe 5k fans tops, sale the tickets in fashion where  fans would sit every other row, every other seat.... 

 

just bored but games without fans is not football. 
 

 

University of Buffalo Stadium is pretty open to the environment, sits 25k, you could sell 5-7k tickets no problem and keep everyone in social distancing parameters...

Edited April 16, 2020 by CEN-CAL17

[TH3]

11 hours ago, PirateHookerMD said:

The problem is the players. Without a vaccine, it is likely inevitable that a player will test positive during the season. What happens to that team and that locker room?

 

If they get players to sign a waiver and the NFLPA goes for it I guess it could happen. Would you want a season to have happened if Mitch Morris gets COVID and our entire offense is out for 2-3 weeks and essentially wastes the season anyway?

 

I know we all want this to happen but it is problematic. 

What will happen?.....Maybe the same thing that happens when a regular citizen going to work this fall gets the rona

Edited April 16, 2020 by TH3

[Adam]

10 hours ago, PirateHookerMD said:

The problem is the players. Without a vaccine, it is likely inevitable that a player will test positive during the season. What happens to that team and that locker room?

 

If they get players to sign a waiver and the NFLPA goes for it I guess it could happen. Would you want a season to have happened if Mitch Morris gets COVID and our entire offense is out for 2-3 weeks and essentially wastes the season anyway?

 

I know we all want this to happen but it is problematic. 

Players, officials, coaches, support staff, filming crews, director, analysts. You're talking about maybe 200 people there for something that isn't essential

[Success]

We've been doing this a month.  Over 20 million have lost jobs already.

 

I'm not one of those who thinks this is any kind of hoax, but at some point you have to look at the risk of the virus vs. the risk of millions of lives being ruined & thrown into poverty.

 

Sports can't wait a year.  Start without fans. Move to partially filled stadiums. And so on.   But they need to get on w/ it sooner rather than later.

 

 

 

[WhoTom]

2 hours ago, TheBrownBear said:

Next year will be funny when the refs throw a social distancing personal foul flag when a defensive player comes within 6' of Tom Brady.  Oh wait...

 

In other words, SOME things will be back to normal...

 

[Orlando Tim]

I do not understand how people expect large crowd events until there is herd immunity or a good and tested vaccine. I can go a long time without being at a game if I can watch on TV.

[wagon127]

55 minutes ago, Buffalo Timmy said:

I do not understand how people expect large crowd events until there is herd immunity or a good and tested vaccine. I can go a long time without being at a game if I can watch on TV.

My mindset is that 5 months will pass between now and the start of the regular season, and 3 months ago, you just started to hear this novel coronavirus. So I think there is still alot to learn about it, that could work to our advantage. If the season starts a month or two late, that could work as well. But i don't think we will have to wait until 2021 to have football again.

[PromoTheRobot]

1 hour ago, Buffalo Timmy said:

I do not understand how people expect large crowd events until there is herd immunity or a good and tested vaccine. I can go a long time without being at a game if I can watch on TV.

 

And how can you allow sports leagues access to tens of thousands of Covid tests when hospitals can't get them? They want to reopen society and the economy but there's not a test to be found.

[Orlando Tim]

9 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

 

And how can you allow sports leagues access to tens of thousands of Covid tests when hospitals can't get them? They want to reopen society and the economy but there's not a test to be found.

I understand that right now we do not have proper test but I bet we have them within 3 months which is July, so then maybe a month delay to real games into October. 

[iinii]

14 hours ago, RobbRiddicksTDLeap said:

If there are no fans, then let’s hope that there is a sufficient work around of the Direct TV exclusivity deal, and that fans can stream games, with a portion of that new revenue going to the owners. 

You can count on the money tree to be in full bloom. 

[iinii]

12 hours ago, jrober38 said:

 

 

To your second, I think they'll find a way to play in front of empty stadiums. The NFL knows it's fan base is very conservative

 

I think they'll come up with some sort of system where players are quarantined, tested every 3 days, etc to try their best to ensure a safe work environment. Not sure it will work, but if any league will prioritize money over health it's definitely the NFL. 

 

If South Korea can keep restaurants open; the NFL will find a way to milk the cash cow. Players will have a say but they will be all in. They need the money just like Pegs, Jerry, Robert, et al.

[Mikie2times]

I think our path is treatment. If you want to hinge this on a vaccine we won’t have a season. If we can get treatments in place that bring the mortality rate down to what amounts to the flu then we likely get somewhere. With how much is to be gained financially from an effective treatment, I’m bullish. I doubt any virus in the history of mankind will have as much money thrown at it as this one in this short a time. 

[Hardhatharry]

17 hours ago, shoshin said:

I have been trying to picture this. MLB will be the first league to give this a shot. It probably works fine for baseball since it's a quiet crowd. Football would be hard to imagine in an empty stadium. It would be like watching a scrimmage but where the game had meaning. 

I watched plenty of college football where they had no crowd. Even Charger, Jag, & Titan games were not noticable so we have seen games with no crowd and it didn't matter.

Edited April 17, 2020 by Hardhatharry

[DBilz2500]

2 hours ago, Hardhatharry said:

I watched plenty of college football where they had no crowd. Even Charger, Jag, & Titan games were not noticable so we have seen games with no crowd and it didn't matter.

My guess is that if there’s no crowd the networks try and add simulated crowd noise and maybe the cameras pan less to the seats so you don’t notice it as much. Also could see a “checkers” type seating arrangement where people are sitting far enough apart to keep social distance. 

[Gordio]

11 hours ago, Success said:

We've been doing this a month.  Over 20 million have lost jobs already.

 

I'm not one of those who thinks this is any kind of hoax, but at some point you have to look at the risk of the virus vs. the risk of millions of lives being ruined & thrown into poverty.

 

Sports can't wait a year.  Start without fans. Move to partially filled stadiums. And so on.   But they need to get on w/ it sooner rather than later.

 

 

 

 

 

Great Point, you know what breeds an unstable health situation too is poverty.  I don't think some people the trickle down effect of keeping things shut down.  The health system will collapse if this shutdown continues.  Who is going to pay these hospital bills when there will be 50 million people without job/no health insurance.  State Governments will collapse too, without tax revenue.  When that happens things get cut & not little things, things like police presence and such.  It won't be safe to leave your house anymore & may not even be safe in your house.  People that want to shut this country down until there is a vaccine or until there are no more case just don't understand how economics and this country work.  It is all about risk/reward.  Most people are going to chose to live their lives and take the risks.  The damage down to this economy is going to take years to recover as it is now, the longer this lock down goes on the more permanent damage their will be.  Hopefully they will get some reliable treatments and this will be nothing more than a minor inconvienance in the near future.  

[plenzmd1]

2 hours ago, DBilz2500 said:

My guess is that if there’s no crowd the networks try and add simulated crowd noise and maybe the cameras pan less to the seats so you don’t notice it as much. Also could see a “checkers” type seating arrangement where people are sitting far enough apart to keep social distance. 

Think I saw that Taiwan started basesball with cutouts like the movies do to simulate a crowd. I can see that happening here to enforce the social distancing piece. Cut out 3 seats, i seat open..cutout 3 seats, 1 seat open.

[DBilz2500]

3 minutes ago, plenzmd1 said:

Think I saw that Taiwan started basesball with cutouts like the movies do to simulate a crowd. I can see that happening here to enforce the social distancing piece. Cut out 3 seats, i seat open..cutout 3 seats, 1 seat open.

Yup definitely agree. The NFL will get it figured out and hardly miss a beat with their telecast 

[PromoTheRobot]

9 hours ago, Buffalo Timmy said:

I understand that right now we do not have proper test but I bet we have them within 3 months which is July, so then maybe a month delay to real games into October. 

 

Why so confident? They said there would be millions of tests available a month ago. So far? Crickets.

[Orlando Tim]

2 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

 

Why so confident? They said there would be millions of tests available a month ago. So far? Crickets.

Three months is obviously much longer than one but mainly because we have only been attacking this problem for 6 weeks right now and some companies know how to make them right now but they must ramp up production.

[BarleyNY]

One thing to add.  With even fanless games there will need to be travel for away teams, officials and network personnel.  Then there’s everything that goes along with travel - hotels, eating catered or restaurant meals, etc, etc.  Not an insurmountable hurdle by any stretch, but it’s one that that they’ll need to get over. 

[NoHuddleKelly12]

On 4/16/2020 at 7:57 AM, GunnerBill said:

 

Mitch Morris? 

Phonetically it may work with certain dialects?

[yungmack]

On 4/16/2020 at 7:01 AM, plenzmd1 said:

I know i am just optimistic, but i think it is way to early to call that yet. I mean we are 4 months from training camp, 5 from games. Lord knows what all the computer and AI in this world can do with treatment options. I think i am in the great majority of people in the middle on this thing...not a hox or overblown, but at some point the risk/reward becomes to great and we open things up soon..and we build herd immunity 

Herd immunity? The deathrate is running at a staggering 5% in the US of those infected.

[SCBills]

At some point people are going to lose it.  You can’t keep everything closed for a year until they get a vaccine. 
 

Even a limited reopening of America means keeping social distancing requirements thus restaurants, bars and anywhere that needs mass gatherings to provide jobs (malls, venues, arenas, stadiums etc.,) will have massive layoffs and/or go under.  
 

Then the ripple effects of mass unemployment will be felt by everyone.  
 

It’s not sustainable.  I fully appreciate everyone putting health over the economy to slow the spread and not overwhelm hospitals, and that should continue through May to maximize its effects, but this country can survive a resurgence in cases in the Fall now that we’ve been loading up on PPE, ventilators and such, with state/local governments able to logistically plan for what-if scenarios.. We cannot survive the shutdown, even a semi-shutdown, of the economy until a vaccine is produced.  
 

 

Edited April 17, 2020 by SCBills

[LABILLBACKER]

On 4/16/2020 at 6:58 AM, shoshin said:

I have been trying to picture this. MLB will be the first league to give this a shot. It probably works fine for baseball since it's a quiet crowd. Football would be hard to imagine in an empty stadium. It would be like watching a scrimmage but where the game had meaning. 

Baseballs idea of having 3 realigned divisions in the cactus and grapefruit leagues would work perfect. Rapid testing would have to be frequent.  Maybe twice a week. The scientists in Oxford are confident there will be a vaccine by late September.  Maybe college and pro football starts off no fans and once the vaccine hits then gates will open.

[iinii]

Imagine how surreal it would be to play in front of no one? Instead of not being able to hear the offensive signals, going with silent snap counts, and everything road teams endure; you could hear a pin drop. There goes home field advantage.

On 4/16/2020 at 10:09 PM, PromoTheRobot said:

 

And how can you allow sports leagues access to tens of thousands of Covid tests when hospitals can't get them? They want to reopen society and the economy but there's not a test to be found.

It’s called the “Golden Rule.” He who has the most gold makes the rules. 

[Hapless Bills Fan]

On 4/16/2020 at 11:51 PM, KzooMike said:

I think our path is treatment. If you want to hinge this on a vaccine we won’t have a season. If we can get treatments in place that bring the mortality rate down to what amounts to the flu then we likely get somewhere. With how much is to be gained financially from an effective treatment, I’m bullish. I doubt any virus in the history of mankind will have as much money thrown at it as this one in this short a time. 

IMHO, the key for contact sports having a season would be some kind of treatment to prevent illness upon exposure or mitigate the severity if it does develop.

Because otherwise you're in a situation where a key player on offense or defense tests positive, then the whole team has to be quarantined.  But if you don't quarantine, the opposing team says "wait a minute, maybe I'll be fine or maybe I'll wind up in the ICU for a month for a great spit-squirting tackle and never be the same athlete .....I didn't sign up for that!"

 

So how would the games take place?

I think it's too early to call what will happen, but in a couple months as we get readouts from good clinical trials we will know a lot more.

 

[Adam]

On 4/17/2020 at 8:56 AM, BarleyNY said:

One thing to add.  With even fanless games there will need to be travel for away teams, officials and network personnel.  Then there’s everything that goes along with travel - hotels, eating catered or restaurant meals, etc, etc.  Not an insurmountable hurdle by any stretch, but it’s one that that they’ll need to get over. 

If there is a means for doing something like that, save it for the health care providers and first responders. Don't waste it on people who sports. Sportsing is not important

[Augie]

On 4/17/2020 at 8:18 AM, plenzmd1 said:

Think I saw that Taiwan started basesball with cutouts like the movies do to simulate a crowd. I can see that happening here to enforce the social distancing piece. Cut out 3 seats, i seat open..cutout 3 seats, 1 seat open.

 

Except in Jacksonville....for a more realistic look it should be one cutout, 3 empty seats, one cutout, 3 empty seats.....

 

...and every other row is empty....

[billsfanmiami(oh)]

On 4/17/2020 at 11:29 AM, yungmack said:

Herd immunity? The deathrate is running at a staggering 5% in the US of those infected.

Not a chance. Confirmed cases doesn’t equal actual death rate. 

[Ga boy]

I’m seeing that many states are starting a phased re-opening in May.  Once restaurants, subways, barbers, etc open, the chances for football improve.  All through this, medical workers have been in close quarters along with retail workers, and essential operations have managed to continue. I don’t know the stats for their infection, but I’m sure there will be strategic testing soon that will allow near normal operations in most situations, including football, albeit no fans or few fans.  (Maybe there’s enough high school and college fields in Montana.  There is a Buffalo but I don’t know if they have a field.  LOL!) MLB and golf will be the litmus tests.  My hope is that we’ll see Josh Allen throwing TD passes by Oct.  Go Bills!!!

[GottaRun]

This vegas oddsmaker figured out the odds of someone getting Covid-19 at a sporting event in various places in North America 'IF' current social distancing stays in place.

Looking at crowds around 20,000 he figured for Vancouver, Montreal, and Toronto the odds would be up to 13.82% June 1, 23.04% June 15, and 2.12% July 1st
 

 

The US numbers have a greater range

Yankee stadium on July 1st would be down to 0.02%
Miami would be way up at 13% on July 1st

Be real interesting to see how things play out in Florida with the rolled out return to normal.  

"“So it’s: Hold off, because if we started early and the cases ramp back up again, we’d potentially cause a second peak and the seasons would be done, and then potentially the 2020-21 seasons are in jeopardy, too.”

 

https://www.thestar.com/sports/2020/04/17/the-odds-of-professional-sports-returning-before-july-arent-good-if-theyre-paying-attention-to-the-odds.html?fbclid=IwAR0soG2_SPr1vD_U9R2OvX3ZP6QkTCjdXRDGHiIRzQttI_c0VyoK9RF9Rz8
 

[BuffaloBaumer]

22 hours ago, ScottLaw said:

Really? It’s April dude. We have no idea.

Actually i do have a pretty good idea since my company provides nothing but client entertaining events worldwide. Good luck going to any concert prior to 2021. Most companies are banning ALL in person events until 2/21. Football MAY be the 1 exception but with no fans.