NFL Commish Roger Goodell On No COVID-19 Playoff Bubble: ‘Protocols Are Working’
By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
These being the crazy, upside-down pandemic times that they are, college basketball icon/storyteller/bicyclist Bill Walton’s endearing, amusing and insightful off-basketball ramblings during ESPN’s college basketball broadcasts sound downright normal compared to the comments offered by sports league commissioners like the NFL’s Roger Goodell and the NHL’s Gary Bettman in the age of COVID-19.
Here it is nearing 3 p.m. in Las Vegas, and I’m watching an NFL game in the middle of the afternoon in the middle of the week that was supposed to have been played six days earlier on Thanksgiving.
At halftime of the Baltimore Ravens vs Pittsburgh Steelers game, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell was nice enough to answer a few questions posed by NBC broadcaster Mike Tirico.
Tirico asked Goodell if the NFL would have a COVID-19 playing site bubble for the playoffs and Goodell answered with a straight face that no bubble would happen because, “The protocols are working.”
Uh, sure, they are.
The protocols are working.
But the game was staged only six days after it was originally scheduled.
What is working is the NFL’s thirst for TV broadcast cash — and its willingness to try the best it can to keep a lid on COVID-19 spreads in NFL bases across the country.
What has resulted are games like today’s big showdown between two archrivals that had the feel of a preseason exhibition game in August.
The NFL business model is predicated on network TV broadcast money of billions and billions of dollars, so the games will go on.
But what happens when your league’s business model is based on ticket sales and game revenues and not big national TV contracts.
Well, let me introduce you to NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, who wants the players to renegotiate a labor deal. Here’s why lawyers grow up to become sports league commissioners. Take a read — if you can — of Bettman’s comments about why the NHL owners want the players to renegotiate.
Sounds like someone is getting “stressed” out with lots of “stresses” in that quote.
The Sports Business Journal had Bettman on a Dealmakers in Sports virtual event and issued this report on the NHL commish:
“Bettman today stopped short of guaranteeing his league will drop the puck on its targeted Jan. 1 date, instead calling plans for next season a “work in progress.” Bettman said that cautious approach is “influenced largely by what we’re hearing from medical experts.” He said, “COVID is going through a second wave that could be worse than the first wave. … We are taking our time and making sure as we look for ways to move forward, we’re focused on health and safety.”
Bettman said players will go through an “adequate” training camp that may be “slightly shorter” than typical seasons. He also envisions at least one or two exhibition games for each club before the season begins. Bettman: “You want it to have integrity, you want it to be competitive.” Bettman took issue with the recent portrayal of the league’s talks with the NHLPA, calling it “unfortunate” and “inaccurate.” Bettman specifically denied the league has moved the goalposts on the revised CBA earlier this year.
We’re not actually having negotiations and we’re not seeking to renegotiate — NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman
He cited issues such as realignment, the ability to play in respective home markets and what the overall season will look like as barriers that have complicated plans for the upcoming season. “There will be stresses on the system. We’ve had discussions about what those stresses are and how they might be dealt with. But we’re not trying to say you must do x,y, and z. We’re trying to look for ways to continue to work together. I know it’s being portrayed as something else. And that’s unfortunate and inaccurate.”
Meanwhile, the NBA is set to start its new season Dec. 22 and a slate of five games is slated for Christmas.
