How much of the NFL season will actually be played?

[Long John]

Here's your chance. Vote and comment as you so like.

[revo]

My vote: no effect on the season. Goodell is going to plow forward, virus be damned.

[chancellor]

My vote: no effect on the season. Goodell is going to plow forward, virus be damned.

Agreed. No way the NFL will want to give up that roughly $250 mil/team in TV and merchandising income. And that doesn't include the sponsorship deals that likely hinge on football being on TV.

[revo]

One thing I have been thinking of: the Super Bowl is likely to be played in an empty, or near empty, stadium. That is insane.

[Judge Jude]

I have been to 3 Super Bowls - and I can tell you that the players won't even notice.

a bunch of cardboard cutouts have about as much as enthusiasm as the "swells" who show up for that game.

that epic Giants upset over the 18-0 Pats? through 3 quarters, the crowd in Phoenix was roughly as enthusiastic as a preseason contest.

they did buzz a bit, at least, in the last quarter.

conference championships? the atmosphere is off the charts. so THAT would be the weird part, if it comes to this.

[Erik]

We know from baseball's experience that a ton of players are going to get COVID. The question is whether the league, players and fans care. Unlike with baseball players, no one, including themselves, has ever seemed to have a problem putting NFL players at risk.

The league will indeed do whatever it can to keep the money coming in. I don't expect a 16-game season, but I do expect a 10-ish game season that is shut down once or twice, and a full slate of playoffs. Unless someone of note dies, it will in the end be looked at as an anomaly like the strike/lockout seasons.

[Long John]

We know from baseball's experience that a ton of players are going to get COVID. The question is whether the league, players and fans care. Unlike with baseball players, no one, including themselves, has ever seemed to have a problem putting NFL players at risk.

The league will indeed do whatever it can to keep the money coming in. I don't expect a 16-game season, but I do expect a 10-ish game season that is shut down once or twice, and a full slate of playoffs. Unless someone of note dies, it will in the end be looked at as an anomaly like the strike/lockout seasons.

I'd like to believe this is what will end up happening. However, it's not like baseball where if you cancel a series, you can try and make up some of the games later. Imagine not being able to play one of your divisional opponents at home because their team is being quarantined. That puts you at a disadvantage vs. the rest of your division. Cancelling one game has a whole host of ripple effects.

I voted for 5-10. I really think they're going to try to get as many weeks as they can played. I just don't think they're going to be able to generate all that they aspire to. For that reason, I'll be surprised if they can pull off a post-season.

[revo]

I'd like to believe this is what will end up happening. However, it's not like baseball where if you cancel a series, you can try and make up some of the games later. Imagine not being able to play one of your divisional opponents at home because their team is being quarantined. That puts you at a disadvantage vs. the rest of your division. Cancelling one game has a whole host of ripple effects.

I voted for 5-10. I really think they're going to try to get as many weeks as they can played. I just don't think they're going to be able to generate all that they aspire to. For that reason, I'll be surprised if they can pull off a post-season.

It's not as bad as this sounds.

The NFL can schedule a week or even two in between the end of the regular season and the post-season, or even on a bye week between one team and a team that was collateral damage. Not saying they're going to, but they could. With the likelihood of zero fans attending even the post-season game, the logistics of moving these games a week or two isn't as impossible as it was.

[Erik]

Imagine not being able to play one of your divisional opponents at home because their team is being quarantined. That puts you at a disadvantage vs. the rest of your division.

The league won't care any neither will many of the fans.

[Judge Jude]

"Imagine not being able to play one of your divisional opponents at home because their team is being quarantined."

in 1982 NFL's 9-game season, the champion.... Indigenous Peoples played 7 of their 9 games against division rivals, missing only at Dallas.

as it happened, they didn't play any AFC teams.

the Jets, who went 6-3, played 4 NFC teams and didn't play the Bills even once.

yet the NFL continued to revolve on its axis.

[Long John]

"Imagine not being able to play one of your divisional opponents at home because their team is being quarantined."

in 1982 NFL's 9-game season, the champion.... Indigenous Peoples played 7 of their 9 games against division rivals, missing only at Dallas.

as it happened, they didn't play any AFC teams.

the Jets, who went 6-3, played 4 NFC teams and didn't play the Bills even once.

yet the NFL continued to revolve on its axis.

Such sacrilege... But then again, didn't they also give the MVP to Mark Moseley that year? Clearly that was a "nothing's sacred" year.

[revo]

Such sacrilege... But then again, didn't they also give the MVP to Mark Moseley that year? Clearly that was a "nothing's sacred" year.

Yup. I lived in Reston, VA that year and during the strike/lockout, the Redskins decided to hold player-led practices on my intermediate school's athletic fields. I remember watching him practice kicking right outside my classroom's window, which was amazing for an 12-year old.

[Judge Jude]

Moseley was the last of the "straight-on" kickers, so younger football fans seeing clips of him will probably be amazed to see him in action.

it doesn't take a physics major to figure out the inefficiency of that style, but he made it work.

ended his career with the Browns when they got to one of those AFC title games that.... dare not be mentioned.

he also was in on the ground floor - no pun intended - of the Five Guys hamburger franchise dynasty.

https://www.si.com/nfl/2018/07/02/ma...e-are-they-now