By Matthieu Pasquier – April 27, 2020 at 9:21 p.m.
The league is studying possible scenarios in order to maintain its schedule.
Even though the NFL has not been the professional sports league whose agenda has been most disrupted by the pandemic, it is preparing for all scenarios to hold its 2020 regular season in the fall. For now, the upcoming campaign is still being held as normal, which does not prevent the NFL from planning alternative scenarios.
The primary objective would be to maintain a schedule of 16 matches. Among the possibilities, the season and the final could be shifted, the weeks of rest could disappear. According to John Ourand and Ben Fischer of the Sports Business Journal, NFL officials have discussed a postponement of the season to mid-October. In this project, the bye weeks would be canceled, just like the Pro Bowl, and the Super Bowl would take place on February 28, 2021. Contacts between league officials and organizers in Tampa Bay were made to study the feasibility of a postponement of the final.
Despite the uncertainties, the NFL is still scheduling the release of its regular season game schedule for next week. The famous schedule is unlikely to be set in stone, and the NFL will certainly still have to contend with the development of the situation before its first whistle.
