NFL preseason game protocols include no jersey swaps, sideline mask recommendation

The league told teams, via an accompanying memo from the NFL Management Council, that the game-day protocols had “been finalized with the NFL Players Association.” That didn’t prevent individual players from taking to social media to question the measures.

“This is a perfect example of NFL thinking in a nutshell,” San Francisco 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman wrote on Twitter. “Players can go engage in a full contact game and do it safely. However, it is deemed unsafe for them to exchange jerseys after said game.”

Houston Texans wide receiver Randall Cobb tweeted: “This has to be a joke…” Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson wrote that the postgame protocols are “DAMN SILLY.”

The league has made plans for a two-game preseason, down from the usual four games per team, while the NFLPA is seeking to eliminate the preseason entirely. The collective bargaining agreement gives the league the right to set the length of the preseason, provided it is four games or fewer. But the NFLPA argues that playing amid the coronavirus pandemic represents a change in working conditions that makes issues such as the length of the preseason mandatory topics of bargaining.

The NFL previously sent treatment procedures to teams as part of protocols for training camps, which are scheduled to open July 28 for most teams. But details of the testing program remain under discussion between the league and union.

“The protocol governing screening and testing for 2020 Training Camp and the Preseason remains under discussion and will be distributed as soon as it is final,” the league’s memo accompanying the preseason game-day protocols said. “We will also communicate additional details concerning the structure of the preseason and preseason games when they are finalized.”

The memo said the league and union “will continue to update this Protocol as circumstances warrant and as the science evolves.”

The protocols say that players and coaches will be tested under the to-be-determined program. Others with access to the bench area during a preseason game will be required to be tested 48 hours before the game, according to the protocols. The game officials must provide documentation to the league of a negative test. Those with access to the bench area also must undergo game-day screenings for symptoms and temperature checks, and are required to wear masks.

Coaches and those players who are not expected to enter games “are strongly encouraged to wear masks on the sidelines,” the protocols say. After games are completed, the two teams “are prohibited from postgame interactions within 6 feet of one another; and jersey exchanges shall be prohibited.”

Locker rooms must be sanitized and configured to allow distancing, with six feet between players while at their lockers. Players are not to share cups or water bottles. Towels are to be used once each, then discarded into a laundry pile. The footballs are to be cleaned and all shared equipment must be disinfected. Teams’ training and equipment staffs are to be provided with disinfecting wipes to use on benches and other surfaces. Cleaning solutions for players’ mouthguards are to be available on the sideline.

Teams must travel to and from the stadium on buses and must arrive at and depart from games at staggered times. The home team must stay in a hotel the night before a game. No media members are permitted in the postgame locker rooms, and on-field fan seating is prohibited.

The league has said that fan attendance at games this season will be determined on a city-by-city basis, based on applicable state and local health guidelines and restrictions. The NFL has made plans for the rows of seating closest to the field at each stadium to be closed to fans and covered; that space potentially will be used to display sponsor logos and league and team messaging.

Under the NFL’s tentative plan for a two-game preseason, each team would play one game between Aug. 20-24 and another between Aug. 27-31. Each team would play one home and one road game during the preseason, pending a resolution with the NFLPA.

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