As camps prepare to open, here’s what the NFL says about MLB’s coronavirus outbreak
Outside of a few injuries and empty stands, the start of Major League Baseball’s 2020 season got off to a seemingly smooth start.
Then the coronavirus, moving like a jagged hangnail over silk sheets, threw a nasty curve to the boys of summer.
With 11 players from the Miami Marlins’ 30-man roster and two coaches testing positive for COVID-19, Monday’s games between the Marlins and Baltimore Orioles and New York Yankees at Philadelphia Phillies have been postponed, the Miami Herald reported.
The Marlins had been playing against the Phillies in Philadelphia over the weekend when the test results came back.
“The health of our players and staff has been and will continue to be our primary focus as we navigate through these uncharted waters,” said Marlins CEO Derek Jeter in a statement, according to Yahoo Sports. “After a successful Spring 2.0, we have now experienced challenges once we went on the road and left Miami.
“Postponing tonight’s home opener was the correct decision to ensure we take a collective pause and try to properly grasp the totality of this situation. We have conducted another round of testing for our players and staff, and our team will all remain in Philadelphia pending the results of those tests, which we expect later today.”
While the NBA’s bubble appears to be up and running with only some minor bumps (namely strip clubs and life-altering chicken wings), some are saying that the Marlins’ outbreak should be closely watched by the NFL.
Should the NFL be worried?
The NFL and MLB are the only two major sports leagues in the U.S. that are taking an outside-the-bubble approach.
According to Yahoo, the National Woman’s Soccer League completed a month-long tournament in Utah without a positive coronavirus test while the National Hockey League finished its third phase of training camp without a positive test as well.
While MLB teams started traveling and playing last week, the NFL is set to open its training camps this week.
And remember — football is a close-contact sport.
Infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci, who (tried to) throw out the first pitch for Nationals-Yankees game last week, has voiced concerns about playing football during the COVID-19 era.
“Unless players are essentially in a bubble — insulated from the community and they are tested nearly every day — it would be very hard to see how football is able to be played this fall,” Fauci told CNN in June.
NFL teams can take 80 players to camp, before whittling it down to 53 for the start of the season.
The NFL’s plan for keeping the virus at bay is that players aren’t even allowed to set foot in their team’s building before passing three COVID-19 tests that are administered 72 hours apart, NFL.com reports.
And there won’t be any preseason games.
All the NFL training camp coronavirus protocols can be found here.
What people are saying
“NFL is going to have a season,” Fox’s Colin Cowherd tweeted out on Monday. “Only eight roadies is a huge reason why. MLB travel adds huge roadblock NFL doesn’t face. Also — states getting MORE restrictive helps NFL. Takes away options. Facility to home. Rinse and repeat.”
“There’s a segment of the NFL media that seems to be almost rooting for COVID to affect the season. They want it,” tweeted NFL Network’s Kyle Brandt. “They see the Marlins news and say, “Yep! Lots of luck, football!” These are people who make their livings off football. I don’t get it.”
The Washington Post’s sports columnist Thomas Boswell said that it’s impossible for the NFL season to happen as long as it’s going by MLB’s no-bubble game plan and that the leagues are playing with the health and lives of these athletes.
“Underneath all the discussions and elaborate plans to reopen various sports — MLB, NBA and NHL now and the NFL and college football by the end of next month — has been one naive assumption: If the virus hit a team, it would infect one or two players. Maybe three. But the sense was things still would be “manageable.” You could still “field a team.”
“When did this become the highest of all human goals?” Boswell asks.
ESPN’s Mina Kimes said that the NFL is “closely watching MLB’s return,” with concern.
“Ultimately if [MLB] can’t pull it off without having a number of positives tests or an outbreak that stops the season, I have to imagine that concerns the NFL greatly,” Kimes said.
Former Deadspin writer Barry Petchesky, like Boswell, thinks the worst.
“The NFL’s handling of coronavirus is going to make MLB’s look good by comparison. I have never been more certain of anything in my life.”
During Sunday’s “Double Coverage” podcast, New England Patriots cornerback Jason McCourty said the 2020 season makes him “very nervous” because the players don’t have to abide by the same rules athletes in bubbles must follow.
“I’m not going to lie, I go on social media and it makes me very nervous to think there will be a season,” McCourty said on the podcast he and his twin brother and teammate Devin co-host. “Because I’ve gone on social media and seen guys posting a video in a night club, and it’s just like, ‘Yo, we’re attempting to play football. That’s not going to be OK.’ ”
Despite what’s happening in baseball, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell appears to be moving ahead with the 2020 season and released a statement on Twitter on Monday afternoon.
“While this year will forever be defined by a heartbreaking global pandemic and a transformative social justice movement, I am reminded of the tenacious, resilient spirit of our country, the NFL community, and you, the greatest fans I the world.”
Also on Monday: The Minnesota Vikings announced that their Infection Control Officer has tested positive for coronavirus.
This story was originally published July 27, 2020 at 3:56 PM with the headline "As camps prepare to open, here’s what the NFL says about MLB’s coronavirus outbreak."