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The world as we know it has all been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and sports as we know it are collectively on hold. Multiple leagues across the landscape of sports have either cancelled or suspended events/seasons altogether. The NFL is obviously in the middle of its offseason, but there are events happening such as free agency and the draft.
It is Monday, March 16th and free agency is about to be in full swing. The league decided to proceed given that - in their minds - the business they will be handling can essentially be done remotely.
The NFL Draft is going to happen, but some things might change
The next public event for the league is the draft. This year’s draft is scheduled to be held in Las Vegas and the league announced on Monday that the timing of it will not change, but a few things will.
In consideration of current information related to COVID-19 and guidance from medical experts such as the CDC, and in coordination with public authorities in Nevada and the City of Las Vegas, the NFL will modify its plans for the 2020 NFL Draft, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell announced today.
The clubs’ selection of players will proceed as scheduled April 23-25. The NFL is exploring innovative options for how the process will be conducted and will provide that information as it becomes available. The selection process will be televised.
Public NFL Draft events in Las Vegas next month will not take place.
”This decision reflects our foremost priority – the health and safety of all fans and citizens,” said Commissioner Goodell. “While this outcome is disappointing both to the NFL and to the Las Vegas community, we look forward to partnering with the Raiders, the City of Las Vegas and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority for a future NFL Draft as well as evaluating opportunities for other major NFL events in Las Vegas in the future, including the Super Bowl.”
We will see how the league ultimately handles televising the draft, innovative ways for doing so certainly seem interesting.
The important thing here is obviously to keep everyone safe and it appears that the NFL is trying to do that.