The NFL has moved contests.
COVID-19 is once again having an impact on the National Football League with the weekend schedule not intact. Saturday’s scheduled game between the Las Vegas Raiders and the Cleveland Browns will now be played on Monday because of a COVID-19 outbreak in the Browns organization. Two Sunday games, Washington at the Philadelphia Eagles and the Seattle Seahawks at the Los Angeles Rams will be played on Tuesday. Cleveland had 24 players in COVID-19 protocol while the Los Angeles Rams had 29 players in the protocol. Washington had 23 players in COVID-19 protocol. Las Vegas Raiders ownership complained about moving its game against Cleveland back two days claiming Cleveland should have forfeited the contest under NFL rules that were released in July.
The July NFL policy said that a forfeit would take effect only if three events happened. A game is postponed by requirement of government authorities or at the discretion of the commissioner. The league can’t find a suitable makeup date within the framework of the season. The original postponement was caused by an outbreak among unvaccinated players of one team. The NFL is in the home stretch with the playoffs scheduled to start on January 15th, 2022. There could be more COVID-19 postponements in the coming weeks that could play havoc with the league’s schedule. College football is about ready to begin its bowl season. Some colleges have cleared campuses and are having students take finals online. There is a lot of money to be made by colleges are universities in the upcoming weeks from bowl games and TV and, of course, there is the college playoffs with the two semi-final games scheduled for December 31st and the championship game on January 10th, 2022. It may be very difficult to get all of the football games in with COVID-19 spreading even if money is on the line.
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