The NFL will ban mandatory local bubbles during the postseason, according to a memo sent to clubs Tuesday, but continues to allow teams to voluntarily house players in a hotel.
The decision represented an expected outcome after months of public discussion about the effectiveness of the league’s COVID-19 protocols and the serious impact that a post-season game delay would have on television schedules and the stadium. The league’s infection rate dropped significantly this month after the NFL and NFL Players Association agreed to put each team in “ intensive protocols ” that restrict in-person meetings and require more mask use, and ultimately both sides decided that the existing protocols would be a safer choice.
Multiple professional sports leagues successfully used a bubble format early in the pandemic, housing all team personnel in shared living quarters and requiring multiple negative tests before anyone could enter the environment. But Dr. Allen Sills, the NFL’s chief medical officer, is an outspoken opponent of that approach for the NFL.
The size of NFL teams makes it a much bigger logistics problem, but Sills has also said that the chances of a team breakout were more likely in a bubble if an infection pierced it with all the players and coaches under one roof. The NFL and NFLPA were also concerned about the mental health consequences of isolating their staff for weeks or even a month during the holiday season.
“This decision is based on an analysis of the frequency of positive cases in the league compared to the risk of significant dispersion among players and staff gathered in one hotel over a long period of time,” the memo said.
Some teams offer voluntary hotel accommodation during the season for players and coaches who fear they could become infected from family members or other people they live with. In the postseason, players and coaches staying in a team-sponsored hotel must wear electronic tracking devices. The league’s finance committee also signed up for funding for each team to use two charter planes during the postseason, increasing physical range flexibility.
Meanwhile, the memo also includes:
• Ordered to resume daily tests for seven days after the end of a team’s season.
• Clarified that players who have been removed from the Isolation Protocols on game day are eligible to participate.
• Modified return-to-play protocols for asymptomatic individuals, who are no longer allowed to return after two consecutive negative tests and instead wait 10 full days after the positive sample has passed, while also receiving physician approval.