By Matt Weidler
With a spring season of high school football right around the corner, what should our expectations be? The NFL has gotten through 14 weeks of play, but how has COVID affected their season? And what lessons could the NFL teach scholastic sports?
The NFL got a few weeks under their belt before COVID issues came into play. The Tennessee Titans had a COVID breakout before week four of the NFL season causing their game against the Pittsburgh Steelers to be postponed. The virus has popped up multiple times throughout the season and recently there was a second huge outbreak with the Baltimore Ravens.
If the NFL with all of their strict protocols is struggling to keep the season going with COVID, it will definitely be hard for high school leagues to do it.
It is certainly true that it will take a high level of maturity and responsibility from the players to ensure safety. If players are not following the rules, then the season will be stopped rather quickly.
As shown by the NFL, the biggest difference in football to other sports is how quickly it spreads among players. While it will not necessarily be more easily contracted, it will spread much quicker.
In the NFL when one player on a team has gotten COVID, multiple players on the team always followed. We did not see this in any other pro sports like the NBA, who’s “bubble” season boasted almost no outbreaks.
This won’t necessarily transfer over to HS football because of the monitoring and precautions that are already in place in order for students to attend school, but it could be something to look out for if the high School football season does end up taking place over the next few months.
