If you were looking for a sure sign that the NFL has decided that COVID-19 is no longer a significant factor in their operations, you certainly got it on Tuesday, as the owners approved moving to a 17-game regular season, starting this fall. This is the first change in the length of the regular season since 1978, when seasons went from 14 to 16 games. Ironically, this announcement came less than a week after the league docked New Orleans a sixth-round draft choice in 2022 and fined the team $700,000 for COVID-19 protocol violations last season, with Las Vegas possibly the next team to lose a draft choice.
Let’s take a look at other news items linking the league and COVID-19 that could influence your NFL betting this fall.
NFL News: March 30 COVID-19 Report
Goodell expects all 32 teams to host full stadiums
During 2020, despite the best efforts of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to open things up earlier, there were no NFL teams that had 100 percent attendance. However, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said Tuesday that “all of us in the NFL want to see every one of our fans come back” starting on September 9, when the 2021 regular season begins. He had met earlier on Tuesday with NFL officials and talked about having fans in every stadium.
Goodell’s optimism may run into difficulty when it comes to state regulations around the country, as some states have declared themselves fully open for business, such as Texas and Florida, while others still have fairly stringent limits in place when it comes to attendance as events. Due to the increasing availability of the COVID-19 vaccine across the United States, though, unless a significant outbreak of COVID-19 variants that prove resistant to vaccination takes place, it is hard to see those restrictions remaining in place, at least in their current iteration, by the autumn.
Offseason Phase One to begin April 19
Because of the recent announcement of the change to a 17-game regular season this fall and ongoing uncertainty about changes to COVID-19 restrictions, the offseason in the NFL could look quite different this year. However, the league has informed teams that they can start Phase One of offseason workouts on April 19. Players can work out at team facilities so long as they take part in small groups.
Phase One does not include organized team activities, which include 7-on-7, 9-on-9 and 11-on-11 drills. Those schedules have not yet been determined. In a typical year, offseason workouts would normally begin near the middle of April, after which teams hold a voluntary minicamp, a rookie minicamp and optional team activities (OTAs), with the mandatory minicamp coming in June. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic kept that entire period from taking place, and several of the most venerable players in the league weighed in to ask about the necessity of such an extended offseason, given that the league just finished a largely successful season that did not have one.
NFL updates draft room protocols
The league had informed teams three weeks ago that they could go back to their draft rooms for this year’s draft in April. Late last week, the league made a further change, indicating that masking and social distancing requirements could also be eased if al of the individuals within the draft room have been completely vaccinated.
To fulfill this definition, a person must have received either the Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine or the two doses of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, as well as going through the two-week period after the shot for the vaccine to take full effect. The protocols allow for a maximum of 10 people, all fully vaccinated, in the draft room. If all are vaccinated, eating and drinking will also be allowed. If teams want to include non-vaccinated personnel in the draft room, there can be a maximum of 20 total individuals, and all in the room must wear masks and observe social distancing. Eating and drinking will not be permitted.
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