NFL has warned teams could forfeit games, lose money if Covid outbreaks affect the unvaccinated players

July 26, 2021: -The National Football League is planning to operate normally for the upcoming 2021 season and forfeit games and lose money if Covid outbreaks occur in unvaccinated players.

The NFL told the team executives and head coaches that it doesn’t plan to reschedule games during the 2020 season due to outbreaks in a memo obtained by CNBC. Instead, the league wrote, “postponements will only occur if required by government authorities, medical experts, or at the direction of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.”

The NFL notes its teams have vaccinated 100% of their top staff and set up protocols for vaccinated staff. In addition, the league said more than 75 percent of “players are in the process getting vaccinated, and more than half the clubs have vaccination rates higher than 80 percent of their players.”

If games are moved or canceled because of the unvaccinated individuals, teams and players could also face financial penalties.

The NFL players union is warning its constituency of the league’s stance to postpone games, which urges unvaccinated players to seek vaccination and ignore contract issues via conduct detrimental. For players, guaranteed money in contracts can become unguaranteed, and they could be fined under conduct injurious language. On Thursday, the NFLPA sent out a memo of its own, reminding players, “if games were missed due to the COVID-19 outbreak, nobody would have gotten paid.” The inscription ends with the NFLPA requesting players reach out with questions.

On the team front, “the club experiencing the outbreak will be responsible for all additional expenses incurred by the opposing team and will also be required to pay any shortfall amid actual and expected payment to the VTS pool.” In addition, clubs suffering forfeits will have losses attached to their record, which threatens postseason chances.

“In light of the substantial roster flexibility in place for the 2021 season, absent medical considerations or government directives, games can not be postponed or rescheduled to avoid roster issues caused by injury or illness affecting multiple players, despite within a position group,” the memo said.

The rigid stance of the league on postponing games will protect network partners agreeing to a media deal worth over $100 billion.

The NFL rescheduled several games in the previous season because of Covid outbreaks, which include the Week 12 contest between the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers. Initially, that game was set for Thanksgiving Day but was postponed three times. It was finally played on Dec. 2 and drew 10.8 million viewers on NBC. The game of the 2019 Thanksgiving Day game on the network drew roughly 21 million viewers.