Charlie Riedel/Linked Press
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell acknowledged the league is planning for stadiums to be fully open to followers for the 2021 season.
“We desire to peer every person of our followers attend,” he instructed reporters Tuesday. “We demand to gain elephantine stadiums within the impending season.”
Goodell moreover acknowledged he shall be encouraging all league body of workers to secure COVID-19 vaccinations:
Lindsay Jones @bylindsayhjones
Goodell acknowledged all NFL personnel will seemingly be inspired to secure vaccinated for COVID-19 and the league will use its platform to succor the overall public to enact the identical. Goodell did not resolution the piece of my quiz about if vaccines will seemingly be required for followers to relief video games in 2021.
The news comes on the identical day that the NFL owners officially approved a 17-sport usual season. The league will pass to a three-week preseason, with the week that beforehand held a fourth preseason sport now turning into a bye week, per Ticket Maske of the Washington Post.
The usual season will peaceful consist of one bye week, while the postseason will seemingly be bumped attend by one week. Listed below are the matchups that gain been added to the agenda on Tuesday:
Inviting to a 17-sport season, with followers fully attending, will seemingly be a serious boost to the NFL owners’ backside lines after each and every person of workers took a financial hit in 2020. That, in turn, has left teams trimming around the margins this offseason, with barely quite loads of veterans taking restructured affords to manufacture quick-term wage cap relief.
Per ESPN, the 2021 wage cap sits at $182.5 million, an eight p.c decrease from 2020 ($198.2 million). Or now not it is the first time since 2011 the cap did not gain bigger from the season prior, which again may possibly possibly even be attributed to the realities of minute or no attendance amid the coronavirus pandemic last season.
