With the surge in COVID-19 cases that threatened to disrupt the NFL season, last week the league discussed game cancellations for the first time since the start of the pandemic.
In discussion with the NFL Players Association, the cancellation of games involving the Washington Football Team, the Cleveland Browns and the Los Angeles Rams has been considered due to an outbreak of COVID-19 in each training. The matches have instead been moved to Monday and Tuesday.
Players Association president JC Tretter, who is also a center for the Browns, said the NFL wanted to cancel those games – and players would not have been paid under the COVID-19 protocol agreement .
Two player representatives who are familiar with the talks, however, revealed to The Associated Press that the cancellation of games was never the foreground. The two sources spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk about the conversations.
Brian McCarthy, spokesperson for the NFL, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that “the goal has been to play the season as planned in a safe and responsible manner.”
In a press conference with reporters, Tretter underscored the union’s opposition to any cancellation.
“The NFL’s position last week was that those three games were going to be called off,” Tretter said. They weren’t going to be played, and if they weren’t, no one on the two teams was going to get paid. This is obviously a problem for us as a union. Our position was that we had to make sure all games were played so that our guys got paid. ”
Tretter said the union executive committee voted unanimously “that our position should be that games should be postponed and not canceled and we have pushed the league to this resolution.”
The game between the Las Vegas Raiders and the Browns has been moved from Saturday to Monday. The Seattle Seahawks versus the Rams and Washington Football versus the Philadelphia Eagles have been played from Sunday to Tuesday.
Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is focused on the games, not the day they are played.
“You don’t care because it’s out of our control. We can’t be worried about something we don’t control, ”he argued.
During the season, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and before vaccines were available, the NFL managed to complete all of its regular schedule, playoffs and the Super Bowl on time. However, 15 games had to be postponed due to an outbreak within a team.