NFL allowing more personnel at team facilities and reopening of stores, ticket offices
The NFL continues to move forward amid the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic with an eye on regaining some normalcy and playing a season in 2020.
In recent weeks, teams were allowed to reopen their respective training facilities with minimum staffing and without coaching staffs or players — the exception being players undergoing medical treatment as part of a rehabilitation process.
Now, the NFL is hoping to ease in more personnel starting Monday.
In a memorandum sent to all 32 clubs Thursday, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell appeared optimistic that coaching staffs would be able to join select employees at team training facilities, including the Chiefs’ complex in Kansas City.
“We expect that next week clubs will be permitted to include members of their coaching staffs among the employees permitted to resume work in the club facility,” Goodell wrote in the memorandum, which ESPN’s Adam Schefter first shared via Twitter. “We are actively working with Governors and other state and local authorities in those states have not yet announced definitive plans and will confirm the precise date on which coaches can return to the facility as soon as possible.”
Goodell also left open the door for a potential return of teams’ players.
“We are also continuing to work with the NFLPA on developing protocol that will allow at least some players to return to facilities on a limited bases prior to the conclusion of the offseason program,” Goodell wrote. “We expect to begin sharing agreed-upon protocols and additional information very soon.
The memorandum is part of the phased plan for the league to reopen operations in accordance with state and local protocols. The NFL aims to reopen in a fair manner, an important factor when considering some states like California and Washington have stricter guidelines on social gathering and workplace environments than other states.
While Missouri has loosened some restrictions in recent weeks, all of the Chiefs’ coaches have continued to work out of their homes. The team’s offseason workout program, including Phase III’s organized team activities (OTAs), has been accomplished virtually through video calls and other web-based communications.
But with Goodell’s new guidance, teams around the league will be allowed to reopen ticket offices and retail shops, among other customer-related functions, as long as they comply with state and local regulations.
Additionally, Goodell made it clear in the memorandum that all teams must advise the league’s chief medical officer, Dr. Allen Sills, and the league’s senior vice president of public policy and government affairs, Brendon Plack, of any COVID-19 incidents and changes in local regulations that could affect team operations.
While it remains to be seen whether training camps and the NFL’s regular season will be affected by COVID-19, especially in the absence of a proven vaccine, the phasing-in represents positive steps toward the league-wide goal of playing this fall.
This story was originally published May 28, 2020 at 4:50 PM with the headline "NFL allowing more personnel at team facilities and reopening of stores, ticket offices."
