The NFL had the most time to come up with a plan to safely play during a pandemic. Somehow, they’ve come up with the worst plan.
The NBA and NHL gloriously returned within the past few days in airtight bubbles that have, so far and knock on wood, held firm with zero players and coaches testing positive.
MLB’s plan to play in home stadiums and travel across the country is failing on a catastrophic level, with 20 percent of games postponed over the weekend.
College football, apparently not wanting to live in the real world, has taken the half-measure of moving games a couple weeks yet still planning to plow through with games despites players almost certainly being exposed to the virus when students return to campus. Even before that, multiple teams have been placed in quarantine. Now, Pac-12 players have begun what may be a nationwide player revolt.
I provide all as background because the NFL is the richest, most powerful sports league in the country and maybe the world. They could have done anything. They could’ve bought the state of North Dakota and put the whole league in a literal bubble. They could’ve adjusted schedules. They could’ve moved the season start back.
As we enter the month of August, with training camps starting, the league has done nothing except to institute basic social distancing requirements at team facilities and increase testing. Not surprisingly, dozens of NFL players, almost exclusively veterans, are opting out of the 2020 season citing the risks involved
It’s shocking. How did they not come up with a better plan? Were they waiting to see how MLB’s half-baked experiment fared? DId they not think the NBA or NHL were going in a smarter direction?
The foremost pandemic expert in this country, Dr. Anthony Fauci, praised the NBA's bubble concept as something that could work. He also said that MLB’s plan to travel across the country as a virus continues to spread unabated was untenable at best. He was right. He’s almost always right.
Which leaves the NFL about a month away from disaster. I do not doubt that the NFL season will start as planned. But I have no faith that it’ll end anywhere close to on schedule, or without at least one massive outbreak per team.
To be clear, I am not placing all blame on the NFL for any future outbreak because it’s inevitable. Our country’s leaders (ahem Republicans ahem) have waged an insane culture war against masks and sciences, and we’re paying the price. The opening of schools is already proving disastrous across the South. The league is barreling into a disaster.
But here’s the thing - the NFL still has time to make this work and I’m going to tell you how.
4 Bubbles with 8 Teams
Let’s be very clear: no sports league can play without interruption in 2020 unless it is in a bubble. That ship has sailed. The NFL season cannot happen without one. So let’s start there.
Now, it’s clearly unreasonable for the entire league to be in one bubble. There are too many players and too many team personnel needed to make that realistic. But the NHL has shown that you can manage multiple bubbles, and that’s all the NFL needs.
My idea is for there to be 4 bubbles with 8 teams each. The main hub has to be a city that is not in a tight metro area but an area with plenty of surrounding hotels and spaces for players to live away from the general public. Secondly, the bubble needs a host dome stadium so multiple games can be played per weekend without fear of weather or turf degridration. I’ll miss grass stains for a season too.
East, West, North & South
Dividing the teams into 8 becomes very easy by combining the NFC and AFC divisions together for one year, ignoring the conference split for one year. Unlike the MLB, which had to deal with the DH issue, there is no difference between NFC and AFC teams. Let each team play a double round-robin for 14 games. Yes, this is two less than 16. But 14 is a lot better than 0.
For the four hubs, I propose Las Vegas for the West, JerryWorld in Texas for the East, Minneapolis for the North, and Indianapolis and for the South. Yes, I know Texas isn’t in the east and Indianapolis isn’t in the south, but it makes the most sense. And the odds that fans will be at any games is decreasing by the second, no matter what teams are publicly saying today, so let’s rip that band-aid off now.
Play Games All Weekend
It’s increasingly likely that high school or college football games will not be played this year. Many high schools have already moved to spring, and college football should (hopefully) follow suit shortly. That gives the NFL unlimited opportunities to play games and provide far more value to TV partners than just games on Sunday, to make up for two fewer weeks of games.
Each hub will have to host four games per weekend, and sometimes three depending on a bye week. Play two games on Sunday -- instead of 1 and 4:30 for start times, the games shift to noon and 5pm to give a proper window between games. I don’t see TV networks complaining about airing more NFL football. The other two games can be played on Thursday or Friday nights, anytime on Saturday depending on college football, and of course Monday night.
The NBA and NHL are currently giving us games at all times of the day and fans love it. Life sucks right now in 2020 because of this pandemic. Give fans something to make it a little better.
How Would TV Work?
I’m glad you asked. Here’s how a potential NFL weekend would look like during this bubble concept. It would make sense for the NFL’s four TV partners to each get one bubble to limit exposure, and keep up the exclusivity of special night packages. Each bubble plays twice on Sunday. For this to work, NBC would get the West bubble and I can’t see them saying no to that. For bye weeks, that network would sit out a Saturday, so let’s look at one with say, two West teams on a bye:
Top 4 in Each Division Makes The Playoffs
Another way to make up for the two fewer weeks of regular season games is to add more NFL playoff games. Because of the odd nature of the season, the top four in “bubble” division will make the playoffs. They would play a mini-tournament to crown a division champ, with 1v4 and 2v3 and a division championship game. This would essentially be the NHL’s playoff format back in the good ol days of the Patrick and Smythe divisions. Chris Berman can make his Norris Division jokes again!
That first round of the playoffs, with 8 NFL playoff games in the first weekend of January, could be something special. Especially if our country is anywhere closer to normalcy.
Take a Week Off and Head to a Super Bowl Bubble
Right now, the Super Bowl is scheduled to be hosted in Tampa. If Tampa isn’t ready to host a four-team bubble for two weeks then, then find another home. Either one of the established four bubbles already in existence, or head to a 5th location, such as Glendale, Arizona, where the space of Arizona should allow them to easily create one.
Instead of a week off between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl, move that off week to after the second week of the playoffs, to give everyone a week to travel to the new location and test everyone to make sure there’s no infections.
Play a Final Four between the four division champs - East vs West and North vs South sounds good to me - and then a Super Bowl a week later. With the AFC and NFC designations thrown out the window, who knows what crazy games we could get.
It would be different. It would be unique. It would be exciting. Most importantly, it would be safe.
Is This Too Much?
No, no, it’s not. I’d much rather the NFL go way overboard on safety and play games in empty stadiums for the duration, instead of the current “wait and see” approach that essentially consists of kicking the can further and further down the road.
The NFL, like the NBA and NHL, has an opportunity to do something truly unique and exciting for fans while protecting players, coaches, and staff.
I don’t know if this plan is perfect, but it’s better than what the NFL has planned now. Roger, just consider it, okay?
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MLB’s plan to play in home stadiums and travel across the country is failing on a catastrophic level, with 20 percent of games postponed over the weekend.
College football, apparently not wanting to live in the real world, has taken the half-measure of moving games a couple weeks yet still planning to plow through with games despites players almost certainly being exposed to the virus when students return to campus. Even before that, multiple teams have been placed in quarantine. Now, Pac-12 players have begun what may be a nationwide player revolt.
I provide all as background because the NFL is the richest, most powerful sports league in the country and maybe the world. They could have done anything. They could’ve bought the state of North Dakota and put the whole league in a literal bubble. They could’ve adjusted schedules. They could’ve moved the season start back.
As we enter the month of August, with training camps starting, the league has done nothing except to institute basic social distancing requirements at team facilities and increase testing. Not surprisingly, dozens of NFL players, almost exclusively veterans, are opting out of the 2020 season citing the risks involved
It’s shocking. How did they not come up with a better plan? Were they waiting to see how MLB’s half-baked experiment fared? DId they not think the NBA or NHL were going in a smarter direction?
The foremost pandemic expert in this country, Dr. Anthony Fauci, praised the NBA's bubble concept as something that could work. He also said that MLB’s plan to travel across the country as a virus continues to spread unabated was untenable at best. He was right. He’s almost always right.
Which leaves the NFL about a month away from disaster. I do not doubt that the NFL season will start as planned. But I have no faith that it’ll end anywhere close to on schedule, or without at least one massive outbreak per team.
To be clear, I am not placing all blame on the NFL for any future outbreak because it’s inevitable. Our country’s leaders (ahem Republicans ahem) have waged an insane culture war against masks and sciences, and we’re paying the price. The opening of schools is already proving disastrous across the South. The league is barreling into a disaster.
But here’s the thing - the NFL still has time to make this work and I’m going to tell you how.
4 Bubbles with 8 Teams
Let’s be very clear: no sports league can play without interruption in 2020 unless it is in a bubble. That ship has sailed. The NFL season cannot happen without one. So let’s start there.
Now, it’s clearly unreasonable for the entire league to be in one bubble. There are too many players and too many team personnel needed to make that realistic. But the NHL has shown that you can manage multiple bubbles, and that’s all the NFL needs.
My idea is for there to be 4 bubbles with 8 teams each. The main hub has to be a city that is not in a tight metro area but an area with plenty of surrounding hotels and spaces for players to live away from the general public. Secondly, the bubble needs a host dome stadium so multiple games can be played per weekend without fear of weather or turf degridration. I’ll miss grass stains for a season too.
East, West, North & South
Dividing the teams into 8 becomes very easy by combining the NFC and AFC divisions together for one year, ignoring the conference split for one year. Unlike the MLB, which had to deal with the DH issue, there is no difference between NFC and AFC teams. Let each team play a double round-robin for 14 games. Yes, this is two less than 16. But 14 is a lot better than 0.
For the four hubs, I propose Las Vegas for the West, JerryWorld in Texas for the East, Minneapolis for the North, and Indianapolis and for the South. Yes, I know Texas isn’t in the east and Indianapolis isn’t in the south, but it makes the most sense. And the odds that fans will be at any games is decreasing by the second, no matter what teams are publicly saying today, so let’s rip that band-aid off now.
Play Games All Weekend
It’s increasingly likely that high school or college football games will not be played this year. Many high schools have already moved to spring, and college football should (hopefully) follow suit shortly. That gives the NFL unlimited opportunities to play games and provide far more value to TV partners than just games on Sunday, to make up for two fewer weeks of games.
The NBA and NHL are currently giving us games at all times of the day and fans love it. Life sucks right now in 2020 because of this pandemic. Give fans something to make it a little better.
How Would TV Work?
I’m glad you asked. Here’s how a potential NFL weekend would look like during this bubble concept. It would make sense for the NFL’s four TV partners to each get one bubble to limit exposure, and keep up the exclusivity of special night packages. Each bubble plays twice on Sunday. For this to work, NBC would get the West bubble and I can’t see them saying no to that. For bye weeks, that network would sit out a Saturday, so let’s look at one with say, two West teams on a bye:
- Thursday 8pm, Fox, North (Pittsburgh vs Green Bay)
- Friday, 7pm, CBS, South (Indianapolis vs Houston)
- Friday, 9pm, NBC, West (Las Vegas vs Denver)
- Saturday, Noon, Fox, North (Minnesota vs Chicago)
- Saturday, 3:30pm, CBS, South (Tampa Bay vs Atlanta)
- Saturday, 8pm, ABC/ESPN, East (New York Jets vs New York Giants)
- Sunday, noon, Fox, North (Detroit vs Cincinnati)
- Sunday, noon, CBS, South (Jacksonville vs. Carolina)
- Sunday, noon, ABC/ESPN, East (Buffalo vs Miami)
- Sunday, 3pm, NBC, West (Seattle vs Los Angeles Chargers)
- Sunday, 5pm, Fox, North (Cleveland vs Baltimore)
- Sunday, 5pm, CBS, South (New Orleans vs Tennessee)
- Sunday, 5pm, ABC/ESPN, East (Washington vs New England)
- Sunday, 8pm, NBC, West (San Francisco vs Kansas City)
- Monday, 8pm ABC/ESPN, East (Dallas vs Philadelphia)
Top 4 in Each Division Makes The Playoffs
Another way to make up for the two fewer weeks of regular season games is to add more NFL playoff games. Because of the odd nature of the season, the top four in “bubble” division will make the playoffs. They would play a mini-tournament to crown a division champ, with 1v4 and 2v3 and a division championship game. This would essentially be the NHL’s playoff format back in the good ol days of the Patrick and Smythe divisions. Chris Berman can make his Norris Division jokes again!
That first round of the playoffs, with 8 NFL playoff games in the first weekend of January, could be something special. Especially if our country is anywhere closer to normalcy.
Take a Week Off and Head to a Super Bowl Bubble
Right now, the Super Bowl is scheduled to be hosted in Tampa. If Tampa isn’t ready to host a four-team bubble for two weeks then, then find another home. Either one of the established four bubbles already in existence, or head to a 5th location, such as Glendale, Arizona, where the space of Arizona should allow them to easily create one.
Play a Final Four between the four division champs - East vs West and North vs South sounds good to me - and then a Super Bowl a week later. With the AFC and NFC designations thrown out the window, who knows what crazy games we could get.
It would be different. It would be unique. It would be exciting. Most importantly, it would be safe.
Is This Too Much?
No, no, it’s not. I’d much rather the NFL go way overboard on safety and play games in empty stadiums for the duration, instead of the current “wait and see” approach that essentially consists of kicking the can further and further down the road.
The NFL, like the NBA and NHL, has an opportunity to do something truly unique and exciting for fans while protecting players, coaches, and staff.
I don’t know if this plan is perfect, but it’s better than what the NFL has planned now. Roger, just consider it, okay?
Follow me on Twitter
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