The NFL has made it perfectly clear it has no desire to implement a league-wide bubble to complete its season.
The whole bubble environment idea, though, apparently isn’t entirely out of the question.
Some NFL officials have discussed “local bubbles” for playoff teams this season, NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero recently reported. This would include isolating personnel in hotels outside of visiting the team facility and restricting who can interact with them.
Based on what the NBA and NHL have accomplished, bubble environments are effective in keeping out COVID-19 — when done right, of course. But unlike the current concept the NFL is exploring, the NBA finished under one roof and the NHL did so under two.
And while the idea of placing up to 16 NFL teams in bubbles is more feasible than cramming all 32 teams into one, commissioner Rodger Goodell suggested last week the league still wasn’t in favor of the idea.
“We don’t see the bubble, as most refer to it, in one location. We feel strongly our protocols are working,” he said. “We’re willing to adjust and adapt those protocols, take additional steps. But I don’t see us doing the bubble in the sense that the media focuses on it.”
Additionally, the NFL Players’ Association would have to sign off on the idea. So, it’s certainly a steep hill to climb, if they’re even attempting to.
