Players’ union to the idea the NFL has a reopening plan including minicamps: not so fast
The NHL has set North America’s first concrete plan to return to play amid the coronavirus pandemic. The NBA and Major League Baseball are working through how to resume their seasons, too.
Now the NFL is hinting coaches and players could be back at work then on the field within a few weeks.
The NFL players’ union wants to say: not so fast.
“Players: our union has not agreed to any reopening plan,” NFL Players’ Association president and Cleveland Browns offensive lineman JC Tretter posted on Twitter Tuesday. “Any reports about coming back to work are hypothetical. You will hear from the NFLPA when there are new developments.”
The nation’s governors have been announcing more states—including the coronavirus hotspot of New York—can begin reopening for sports training and business. With those go-aheads, there is increasing talk the NFL may allow coaches back into team facilities.
Yahoo Sports reported Tuesday leagues sources said coaches could be back in team buildings as soon as next week. That could lead to players on the field for team minicamps by late June.
That would be the biggest move yet toward the NFL beginning its season on time in September.
The people representing those who would put themselves at risk the most—playing the highest contact, least socially distant sport of them all with the COVID-19 virus still in society—want the NFL to slow down.
The Seahawk are in an increasingly unique spot.
They are based in one of the most restricted counties in the country. While states, even shut-down, most-populous California, and pro sports leagues talk about phase two and three in the return from the COVID-19 virus, King County remains in the first phase of Washington Gov. Jay Inslee’s stay-home order closing non-essential businesses at least until June 1. And science says King County is likely to stay there into next month.
That doesn’t make it likely Pete Carroll and his Seahawks staff are going to be returning to work next week.
One league source told Yahoo Sports in a story published Tuesday a declaration from California governor Gavin Newsom that sports can resume in his state will be the key to the NFL being able to have players on the field for a full, as-usual minicamp anytime in June.
“If Newsom opens the way for full team operations (without any fan attendance), the league could then give NFL franchises the option of holding a minicamp sometime in June, before breaking once again and setting dates for the opening of training camps,” Yahoo’s Charles Robinson wrote, citing league sources.
“’If California is open for (team) operations soon, minicamps can still happen in June—probably late June, I’d think—but maybe even mid-June,” the league source told Yahoo.
Team facilities across the NFL have been closed since March amid the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus.
Up to now, the NFL has stated it won’t resume full, on-field training for players until every one of its 32 teams are permitted by local authorities to do reopen. The league has said it does not want a competitive disadvantage of, say, the Dolphins, Buccaneers and Jaguars fully operating again in reopened Florida while the Seaahwks remain shut down in Washington.
But the league has been taking incremental steps recently to at least partially reopen.
Commissioner Roger Goodell sent a memo to all league teams this month telling them they could partially reopen their buildings beginning May 19 if: they are permitted by state and local social-distancing requirements to do so; remain compliant with all public-health requirements; and have implemented protocols established by the league earlier this month.
The Cowboys, Steelers, Cardinals, Colts and Falcons were among the first teams to partially reopen their buildings to no more than 75 staff members, but so far not to coaches nor players. The lone exception: players who have been rehabilitating from injuries and or surgeries can work with team athletic trainers on their rehab inside team buildings.
Washington was the first state with a confirmed case of COVID-19 and remains under some of the country’s more stringent social-distancing restrictions and closures. So it’s likely the Seahawks will be among the last teams in the league to re-open their buildings.
A Seahawks spokesman told The News Tribune Monday: “When those orders are lifted and team leadership feels it is appropriate, we will have a phased approach for reopening based on state, local and NFL guidelines.”
For now, the Seahawks will keep their Virginia Mason Athletic Center in Renton closed at least through May 31. That’s at least how long Inslee has stay-home orders and reductions in non-essential businesses in effect across Washington.
About a dozen, smaller counties have advanced to phase two Inslee’s four-phase plan to return to normal. That’s based on consistently lower numbers of cases in their localities.
King County’s rate of COVID-19 cases has remained almost three times higher than the governor’s required rate of reduction of 10 new cases per 100,000 residents over a 14-day period. That’s the threshold before Washington’s counties can move on to phase two that opens stores, restaurants and non-essential services.
The Washington State Department of Health wrote Monday “all the counties in the state WILL (probably) NOT be open June 1,” the time coaches could be returning to NFL team facilities in other states.
But the defending Major League Soccer-champion Sounders resumed voluntary individual training sessions last week at their Starfire sports complex in King County south of Seattle.
As with everything in every walk of life with the pandemic, no one knows for sure.
We’ll see.
This story was originally published May 27, 2020 at 5:40 AM.
