Scenario Three: Players Step Back for Good Cause
Most NFL players will practice the protocols because they are pros. They will learn that there is almost zero chance of them dying from COVID-19. They will also learn, however, via their Players Association and their own research, that there is a very real risk of long-term disabilities from the disease for healthy young adults: not just lung damage, but permanent liver, heart, tissue and/or brain damage.
Now you feel me? Because you understand how short an NFL player’s career is. You know that losing any lung capacity is losing the elite edge that makes a football player into an NFL player. And a multi-millionaire.
That is why the players refused to play one preseason game (good for them! Preseason games are only scrimmages anyway). Everyone has the same disadvantage heading into Week 1 of the regular season.
Which brings us to…
Scenario Four: States Forbid Inter-State Travel and Stadium Use
Yes, the government could simply step in here and render all this speculation irrelevant.
See MLB’s Toronto Blue Jays, whose home games are being played in Buffalo in a minor league stadium. Are teams going to take twice the number of jets for social distancing? An airplane is an incubator, a petri dish, a cruise ship — and a locker room.