The NFL's Designed a Covid-Contingent 2020 Schedule

Leave it to the NFL to be the only sport that actually benefitted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

It forced The Shield to produce just possibly the best NFL Draft show of all time.

However, that's still only a silver lining to what remains to be a very dark cloud.

For all the hopeful reports that the pandemic is slowing down -- it isn't -- and current sports schedules are making plans for a resumption, the NFL is taking a sober look at how Covid-19 is becoming a looming threat to their games.

 

Every sport will be watching the soccer leagues in Germany and Sweden for insights and lessons in how to cope in the midst of a health crisis. However, the USA is in a different situation altogether.

Most other nations are reacting to the pandemic with unified policies. Americans, unfortunately, seem to turn everything into a political battle. In this case, it's overlooked that Covid-19 is non-partisan, which will only complicate any league's plan of attack.

The NFL, though, has done as admirable a job of preparing its 2020 schedule as can be expected.

 

Here's how they've taken the possibility of a stoppage due to Covid-19 into account:

-- If any games must be dumped, it'll be those slated for Weeks 3 and 4.

• There are no intradivision matchups in those weeks,
• Every team has a home and away game in those weeks,
• Games set for Weeks 1 and 2 could be moved into those slots.

-- Each team has one home and one away game in Weeks 1 and 2.

• If those are abandoned, each team would still have an equal number of home and away games.
• The NFL is thus prepared to proceed with a 12-game schedule that's fair.

 

There's more.

-- All Week 2 opponents share the same bye week later in the season, so relatively speaking, the possibility of dumping a bye isn't all that painful.

-- The Super Bowl, scheduled for Tampa, can be moved back to whenever, as the case may be. They only game-dump involved would be the Pro Bowl, and who's gonna miss that?

 

With those factors in mind, the 2020 NFL schedule came to be.

So let the flood of analyses begin ...

 

Obviously, the matter of fans being able to attend the games is hanging in the Covid-19 balance.

Just like everything else is right now.