The NFL is not playing around with COVID-19 anymore. A year after the virus forced the NFL to alter their schedule on the fly due to COVID-19 outbreaks, the league released their new, heavy-handed COVID-19 forfeiture rules.
The NFL announced that if a COVID-19 outbreak prevented a game from being played, the game would be forfeited and both teams would lose their game checks for the week. That’s right. Both teams walk away from the match without their weekly salary. The NFL will not bend over backwards this year to reschedule games like they did in 2020. If they can’t immediately find a shared bye week to play on, the game will be forfeited.
And a lot of money will be thrown out the window for the players.
Here’s more from today’s memo, which also says the team responsible for a canceled game because of an outbreak among unvaccinated players/staff will be responsible for financial losses and subject to potential discipline from the commissioner. Wow. pic.twitter.com/Q86a2WcG1K
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) July 22, 2021
Make no mistake, this is how the NFL is going to try and get the majority of players vaccinated before the season kicks off in a couple months. They can’t force players to get vaccinated, so they’re choosing to make the lives of unvaccinated players very uncomfortable.
This isn’t the first time that the NFL has placed rules on unvaccinated players this season. In June, the NFL announced that unvaccinated players would not be able to leave team hotels during away games, eat with their teammates, and restrictions on equipment they can use like steam rooms and saunas. Violations of these rules start with a whopping $50,000 fine.
Sure, the NFL isn’t outright demanding players to get vaccinated, but a clear line has been drawn. The NFL, rightfully, sees the COVID-19 vaccines as a way to avoid the mess that last year was. No one wants a redo of Robert Griffin versus the Steelers on a random Wednesday.
The rules are a bit harsh, and it’s fair for vaccinated players to oppose the fact that they’re at risk for losing game checks when they’ve followed the rules, but this is the line that the league has drawn.
