NFL schedule has plan for flexibility if coronavirus disrupts 2020 season

Should the 2020 NFL season be disrupted by COVID-19, the league has a four-step contingency plan to make the upcoming season incredibly flexible.

The NFL released its schedule for the upcoming 2020 season on Thursday evening. Even though a global pandemic has halted live sports for the foreseeable future, the league built a few smart steps into its 2020 season schedule to allow flexibility. It’s not easy releasing a schedule when so much uncertainty remains, but the NFL definitely did its part to hopefully give us a full football season.

The challenging part in all this is scheduling dates with teams who also have another professional team with a home date nearby. Cities like Baltimore, Kansas City and Philadelphia all have their football stadiums right next to their baseball stadiums. In many cases, these cities share the same parking lots. It could lead to major upheaval if sports are up and running this fall.

So what is the NFL’s contingency plan for dealing with the coronavirus? What are some of the smart things baked into the schedule to allow us the best opportunity to get a full season in, even in these uncertain times? Let’s find out now.

What is the NFL’s contingency plan for COVID-19?

• While Super Bowl 55 is scheduled for Feb. 7 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, that date can be moved back weeks if necessary.
• Should the season be delayed, the earlier weeks can be moved back after Week 17.
• As the schedule is set up, any week can serve as opening week if the season’s start is delayed.
• Interestingly, every team’s Week 2 opponent shares the same bye week as them.

Another interesting caveat to this schedule is the league has prepared for potentially a 14-game season should it ultimately come to that. The idea is that Weeks 1 and 2 can be moved after Week 17 and Weeks 3 and 4 could be removed all together. The reason the NFL can eliminate the third and fourth week if needed is that there aren’t any division games scheduled in those weeks.

You can’t really get everything figured out, but the NFL certainly did its part to give itself as much flexibility here as possible and look strong in the process. If the final week of the 2020 season doesn’t feature exclusively division rivalry games, so be it. At least the NFL has gotten out ahead of this, much in the manner it did with free agency and the 2020 NFL Draft.