Covid-19 Tackles the NFL

Football fans are hoping the coronavirus does not entirely ruin the season.

Photo via wikimedia commons under creative commons license

Football fans are hoping the coronavirus does not entirely ruin the season.

Evan Suraci, Sports Editor

The long-awaited NFL season has finally arrived and the one conflict that could cancel the NFL season is Covid-19. All sports have come to a type of cancellation and postponement due to the coronavirus, and no one wants to see the NFL season stop or pause. The first three weeks of football went smoothly and according to plan. However, after Sunday night, reports came out that the coronavirus had hit the NFL.

Last Tuesday, a report came out that multiple players and personnel members in the Tennessee Titans and Minnesota Vikings game tested positive for Covid-19. It turned out to be that all the cases came from the Tennessee Titans organization and no positive results have come from the Minnesota Vikings as of Wednesday morning. A total of eight positive cases have been reported by the Titans and due to the positive testing, the Titans have decided to close their practice facilities indefinitely. That decision also made the Minnesota Vikings close their facilities indefinitely out of an abundance of caution. The Titans’ next game versus the Steelers is up in the air right now and will most likely affect other team’s schedules, due to playing the game later in the season.

Even more chaotic, several Las Vegas Raiders players attended a charity event without wearing a mask. A player on the Raiders hosted a charity event indoors, and many players and guests were not wearing masks, nor socially distancing. Not only was not wearing a mask a violation of the state of Nevada’s ordinance, but it could possibly be a violation of the NFL’s orders. The NFL found out about the players being maskless in videos and photos that surfaced on the web and on social media platforms. The photos and videos showed the players being indoors uniting and talking with each other, without wearing face coverings. All Raider players and many others will be in the hot seat for punishment once the NFL comes out with one. 

Prior to the NFL starting up, every team knew there were going to be possibilities of strange situations such as playing games without practice, playing other opponents later, and even a cancellation/postponement period. Could the latest events from the Titans, Vikings, and Raiders organization blow-by, or could it be the beginning of the end of the NFL season?