Tracking if the 2020 NFL regular season starts on time amidst the Covid-19 pandemic

The Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in the sports world grinding to a halt in most corners of the world. Leagues are considering ways to restart, but the novel coronavirus is creating an unpredictable timeline. Sports leagues want to reassure their television and sponsorship partners, but it’s mostly guess-work for the time being when sports will return.

The National Football League has been publicly bullish about starting its season on time. The league is continuing with its regularly scheduled 2020 NFL Draft — albeit conducting the whole thing remotely — and they are planning a schedule release on or before May 9th.

However, the league’s chief medical officer said an on-time start would likely require broad testing availability with quick turnaround time on results. Additionally, that would likely be in the context of games without fans.

This all came shortly before Donald Trump held a conference call with commissioners of North American sports leagues in which he said he believed the NFL could start on time and potentially with fans. The call itself did not appear to accomplish anything, but it happened, so make of it what you want.

We will use this story stream to provide updates as the NFL sorts through the situation and figures out when on-field football will be able to start.