COVID-19’s Effect on the NFL

THOMAS PHILIP — Since COVID-19 shut down sports for the first time in March of 2020, it continues to invade and affect the sports we know and love to this day. For example, the 2019-2020 NBA Basketball season had to be continued in a “bubble” at the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, a 190 million dollar investment in which players could not leave for their own safety and the safety of others. The NFL, however, did not use a “bubble,” but rather carried out a normal season, with minor changes. First of all, the NFL removed preseason games to give players ample time to prepare for the season. This allowed for four fewer weeks of potential COVID-19 exposure. The NFL stuck to two key points in order to keep the season going and prevent the spread of COVID-19. First, they stuck to daily testing. The medical team of the NFLPA (the National Football League Players Association) believed that the only way to effectively slow the spread of COVID throughout the league was daily testing. However, this wasn’t cheap. It cost the NFL over 100 million dollars to administer upwards of 900,000 tests and to set up a testing center for each of the 32 NFL teams. Despite all these precautions, the league still faced some difficulty during the season. Leading up to Week 4 of the season, the Tennessee Titans had 32 positive cases, leading the NFL to postpone their game. This trend continued as more and more games had to be postponed. Nevertheless, the league’s decision to eliminate the pro bowl gave them an extra week of leeway allowing them to complete the 16-game season and the playoffs. All in all, the NFL handled the difficult COVID situation better than most professional sports leagues worldwide. After the success of the previous year and after vaccinations permeated the country, the NFL still faces COVID-related challenges. In the 2021 NFL season, vaccinated players who contract COVID only miss five days while unvaccinated players must miss ten days, so choosing to get vaccinated or not has a direct impact on how a player can contribute to their team’s success. If a player is out for five days, that player does not need to miss a single game, but if a player is out for ten days he must miss at least one if not two games. Future Hall of Fame Quarterback Aaron Rodgers tested positive for COVID-19 and lied to his team about his vaccination. In doing this, he had to miss the following week against the Chiefs, both jeopardizing the team’s chance of winning and also robbing the fans of an enticing matchup. To be vaccinated, or not to be vaccinated, that is the question that every NFL player must face, and if they choose the latter they potentially hurt their team and their fans. We will see in the second half of the season if anything changes in regards to the rules and regulations for vaccinations, but regardless the vaccination debate continues to plague the prosperity of the NFL season.