NFL to TNT: ‘We are monitoring’ Seattle air quality for Seahawks-Patriots Sunday night
The Seahawks “are concerned” about the smoke in Seattle’s air and its effects not only on their preparation for Sunday night’s home opener against New England, but perhaps the game itself.
Baseball’s Mariners having to move their two-game series with the Giants out of Seattle—from their stadium next door to the Seahawks’ CenturyLink Field—to San Francisco on Wednesday reinforced how smoke from the West’s large wildfires is now a larger concern in the Pacific Northwest than in California. At least in pro sports, anyway.
“We are monitoring conditions,” in Seattle, NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy told The News Tribune Wednesday afternoon.
The league uses air-quality index (AQI) measurements plus particulate-matter levels in the air. Thr NFL football operations department is monitoring the real-time AQI data in Seattle from AirNow.gov. The league also consults with local weather agencies in the game’s area, and with its chief medical officer.
The Seahawks are doing more than monitoring.
“We are concerned about it,” coach Pete Carroll said this week. “And I don’t know what that means, as far as the likelihood of practicing outside...I don’t know.”
That was before Wednesday. The smoke around Puget Sound got worse. The morning sun looked more like a small, full moon—or an orange ping-pong ball—through all the milky gray above.
The National Weather Service in Seattle said Wednesday morning “the smoke won’t be going away...more is expected to move up from the south into the area.”
Air-quality index numbers reported by the NWS remained in the very-unhealthy to in some places “hazardous” levels.
It would take a lot for the NFL can postpone a Sunday night national-showcase game. The Los Angeles Rams hosted the Dallas Cowboys in smokey air last weekend. But the league could move it out of Seattle, if need be. There aren’t any fans to inconvenience; the coronavirus pandemic is keeping fans from attending Seahawks games at least into November.
The 49ers played their opener against Arizona Sunday afternoon with the air-quality index (AQI) as “unhealthy” at 161.
That game-time number in Santa Clara Sunday was better than what the AQI has been around Puget Sound for most of the past week. Wednesday morning the National Weather Service reported the AQI in the Seattle-Tacoma region was 276 up to 300. AQIs of 301 and above are considered “hazardous.”
The NFL does not have a benchmark AQI number 200 that if reached in a stadium area means the game must be moved or postponed. That AQI level, though, is a consideration.
The NFL operations manual cites “medical experts have generally agreed that an AQI that consistently measures over 200 in the immediate vicinity of the stadium signifies very unhealthy conditions in which vigorous exercise is not recommended.”
An Air Quality Alert remained in effect for the Puget Sound region in effect through Thursday.
That made it likely the Seahawks will be using their indoor practice field at their Virginia Mason Athletic Center in Renton to practice at least Wednesday, if not all week. The team has been outside for all but one day of practice since taking the field for the first time Aug. 12 at the start of training camp. That lone indoor practice was Friday, because of the smoke in the Seattle area, before the team left for its opening game at Atlanta last weekend.
The players and coaches have been using the indoor practice field for socially-distanced team meetings per the NFL protocols for COVID-19 in this unprecedented season.
The latest forecasts for air quality in the Seattle-Tacoma metro area says the smoke will begin to dissipate some on Friday and Saturday, with close to normal air next week. The National Weather Service says: “Upper level winds will generally be from west to east during the first part of next week, so additional smoke is not expected Sunday through mid-week.”
The Seahawks are scheduled to kickoff against the Patriots in Seattle Sunday at 5:20 p.m.
“We have to wait and see what the (air-quality) numbers are,” Carroll said of practicing indoors until then.
“We are going to take care of our guys first. Whatever’s best, we’ll do that. We won’t practice outside just to practice outside. If it’s better inside, we’ll do that. ...
“We’ll see how it goes.”
This story was originally published September 16, 2020 at 12:16 PM.
