Report: NFL pandemic contingency plans include empty stadiums, shortened season

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The NFL continues to operate under the hope and belief the 2020 season won't be delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, the league is discussing contingency plans should the public health crisis continue into the fall.

Those plans include playing games in empty or partially filled stadiums, or even playing a shortened schedule, Mark Maske of the Washington Post reports, citing two people familiar with the discussions.

"I don't know if it'll be a one-third-filled stadium, a half-filled stadium, or whatever," one source told Maske on Wednesday. "The NFL is planning for everything from playing without fans to playing with full stadiums. We know there will be a push from the (federal) government to open things up. I think we're going to have fans in the stands."

The league reportedly remains hopeful that widespread testing for the COVID-19 virus will be available for players and maybe even fans by the fall.

The NFL proceeded with free agency and did not push back the upcoming draft, but the release of its 2020 schedule has been delayed until around May 9. The regular season is apparently being constructed in a way that takes into account the possibility of a delayed start.

"The schedule is being done in such a way that builds in that flexibility," a source told Maske.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he's soliciting the opinions of sports commissioners, including the NFL's Roger Goodell, about ending the current lockdown. Trump has previously stated that the football season should proceed as scheduled.

Earlier Wednesday, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Dr. Anthony Fauci outlined a way in which sports can return in 2020, without fans in attendance.