TAMPA, Fla. _ NFL clubs can begin reopening their team facilities starting Tuesday, provided state and local governments allow it.
Commissioner Roger Goodell sent a memo to all 32 teams Friday allowing soft openings that will include mainly business personnel. All team buildings were shuttered two months ago in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Bucs' team facility has been closed since mid-March, with staff working remotely from home. Given the team received the memo Friday, it's too early to say whether the first wave of employees will return Tuesday.
Coaches will still not be allowed in buildings, with the exception of a strength and conditioning coach already currently participating in administering medical treatment or rehab. No players will receive access unless they had been receiving treatment or rehabbing an injury before facilities closed in March.
Members of clubs' football operations, football administration, equipment and medical staffs, as well as nutritionists can return at the discretion of the individual teams, but no more than 50% of the team's employees can return, not to exceed a total of 75 people, the league said.
Earlier this month, Goodell sent a memo to teams telling them to have protocols in place by Friday to begin opening facilities.
Among those protocols is that every team must have its own infection control officer to oversee the implementation of all league guidelines and an infection response team that includes a local physician with expertise in common infectious disease principles. Among the practices the league set in place in order to reopen facilities is administering temperature checks for employees as they enter the building.
Earlier this week, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the state was open to professional sports teams that wanted to resume activity. The NBA's Miami Heat and Orlando Magic reportedly opened their training facilities this week for players to do voluntary individualized workouts. Major League Soccer's Inter Miami club began limited individual practices.
