With other sports already on hold, one prominent analyst believes NFL and college football will follow suit due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“I’ll be shocked if we have NFL football this fall, if we have college football. I’ll be so surprised if that happens,” ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit said Thursday night on ESPN Radio, according to TMZ. “Just because from what I understand, people that I listen to, you’re 12 to 18 months from a [coronavirus] vaccine.
“I don’t know how you let these guys go into locker rooms and let stadiums be filled up and how you can play ball. I just don’t know how you can do it with the optics of it. As much as I hate to say it, I think we’re scratching the surface of where this thing’s gonna go.”
Herbstreit added that if he was NFL commissioner Roger Goodell or the NCAA, he would shut down their upcoming football seasons, even though they aren’t slated to begin training camps for several months.
“Next thing you know you got a locker room full of guys that are sick. And that’s on your watch? I wouldn’t want to have that,” he said. “”You don’t all of a sudden come up with something in July or August and say, ‘OK, we’re good to go’ and turn them loose.”
Goodell sent a memo Thursday to all 32 NFL teams that the 2020 NFL Draft will go forward as scheduled April 23-25.
“Everyone recognizes that public health conditions are highly uncertain and there is no assurance that we can select a different date and be confident that conditions will be significantly more favorable than they are today,” Goodell wrote in the memo. “I also believe that the Draft can serve a very positive purpose for our clubs, our fans, and the country at large, and many of you have agreed.”