ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit is not optimistic about the prospect of the NFL and college football seasons taking place during the coronavirus pandemic.
Months ahead of when the 2020 seasons would start, Herbstreit questioned the feasibility of playing football in the fall on ESPN radio Thursday night.
“I’ll be shocked if we have NFL football this fall, if we have college football,” Herbstreit said. “I’ll be so surprised if that happens.”
“Just because, from what I understand, people that I listen to [say] you’re 12 to 18 months from a [coronavirus] vaccine. I don’t know how you let these guys go into locker rooms and let stadiums be filled up and how you can play ball. I just don’t know how you can do it with the optics of it,” Herbstreit added. “Next thing you know, you got a locker room full of guys that are sick. And that’s on your watch? I wouldn’t want to have that.”
The NFL has so far operated relativity normally in its off-season despite the virus.
The new league year began earlier this month, and the free agency period, where players who are no longer under contract with a team can sign elsewhere, began two weeks ago. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has maintained that this year’s NFL draft, which is scheduled for the end of May, will go on as planned, but there will be modifications.
The National Basketball Association, National Hockey League, Major League Baseball, college basketball, and nearly every other professional sporting league has suspended or canceled play because of the coronavirus outbreak. The NCAA also canceled the 2020 men’s and women’s basketball March Madness tournaments.
More than 575,000 people have been diagnosed with the virus globally, which has led to more than 26,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. More than 128,000 people who contracted the virus have recovered.
