NFL Already Canceling the Hall of Fame Game Between Cowboys and Steelers Isn't a Good Sign for 2020 Season
By Scott Rogust
The four major professional sports leagues have announced their plans to start or resume their seasons. However, those plans look to be tentative at best, thanks to the rapid spikes in COVID-19 cases across the United States. As it turns out, we have our first official casualty of the summer.
On Thursday morning, the NFL announced that the 2020 Hall of Fame game featuring the Dallas Cowboys and Pittsburgh Steelers has been canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. The game and the Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be postponed until 2021. That alone could be a sign of things to come for the upcoming season.
The cancellation of the Hall of Fame Game due to the coronavirus pandemic could be part of a shortening of the NFL preseason from four (or five, in the case of the Cowboys and Steelers) to two games per team. NFL owners are to speak by video conference this afternoon.
— MarkMaske (@MarkMaske) June 25, 2020
The Cowboys and Steelers were initially expected to report for training camp on July 22. But now that the preseason opener is officially scrapped, they are likely to show up on July 28 like the rest of the league. However, that's still to be determined, as the league is holding a video conference call with all 32 owners on Thursday, in which they're expected announce protocol for training camp and the preseason.
The initial nationwide shutdown back in March did help slow the spread of the virus, but states like Texas and Florida began aggressively reopening their states for the sake of the economy. Now, both states have seen dangerous increases in positive diagnoses.
The Dallas Cowboys-Pittsburgh Steelers preseason opener at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, on Aug. 6 is being canceled and the Hall of Fame's enshrinement ceremony on Aug. 8 is being postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, league sources told ESPN.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) June 25, 2020
Reports indicate that nearly one third of all NFL teams are dealing with at least one positive coronavirus test. Some notable names to contract the virus include Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott and Denver Broncos defenders Von Miller and Kareem Jackson.
Football fans better brace themselves for some drastic changes to the upcoming campaign because the nation appears to be destined for a second wave of the pandemic.