NFL warns teams that they will forfeit games due to Covid
By Brian Miller
The NFL is taking big steps to make sure that the league year is played entirely and they are sending a strong message to the clubs using the word “forfeit”.
According to a report by Tom Pelissero, the NFL has told clubs that if they are not able to reschedule a game in the 18 week season the team that has the COVID outbreak will be forced to forfeit the game.
The NFL just informed clubs that if a game cannot be rescheduled during the 18-week season in 2021 due to a COVID outbreak among unvaccinated players, the team with the outbreak will FORFEIT and be credited with a loss for playoff seeding, per sources.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) July 22, 2021
Massive implications.
This is big news coming out of the NFL and is sending a clear sign to teams that are below the 80% threshold of vaccinated players, that they will need to tread carefully. The league already has strict non-vaccinated rules in place for players that include not being allowed to travel on the team’s charter, not being able to freely go around in public, daily Covid testing, not being allowed to eat in the team’s dining room, and more.
The Miami Dolphins are one of the teams that are over the 80% threshold.
Regardless, the news today that the league will force teams to forfeit is huge. Last year, the Dolphins were forced to change their bye week and faced a schedule change due to a team they were not playing getting Covid. Some think that the timeline for Tua Tagovailoa was pushed up when the Dolphins bye week was shifted.
While the NFL will try to reschedule games, there is no guarantee that those games will be able to be moved. The league also has to watch what is going on in Europe as they have several games scheduled to be played in the United Kingdom this year.