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The dramatic suspension of the NBA season on Wednesday night in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic begets the question, how will the NFL handle the outbreak with the draft just over a month away?
The 2020 NFL Draft is a three-day event set to take place on April 23-25 on the Las Vegas strip. The league, in conjunction with Clark County, has been planning this glitzy fête for months, the centerpiece of which was going to be a stage constructed atop the fountains of the Bellagio Hotel.
“The league office, the players association and the city and the state are working together,” Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis told the Dallas Morning News on Wednesday. “They’re making a measured decision. Health and safety will always be No. 1.”
At this time, no new plan has been formally announced. The situation is still extremely volatile, however, and changes to the event seem almost inevitable. Those changes could manifest in a number of ways: The league could opt to conduct the event fan-less, similar to how the March Madness tournament is now scheduled to take place, the event could be postponed to a later date in the hopes that the outbreak is contained before then, or the in-person event could be cancelled outright with draft day picks submitted remotely.
Attendance to draft festivities is free and open to the public and organizers are expecting massive crowds for this year’s event. Last year’s iteration in Nashville, Tenn. drew a record-breaking 600,000 people in attendance, a figure that well exceeds the thresholds that many municipalities have now instituted to cap large gatherings.
It has also become a major televised event for ESPN and the NFL Network.
On Monday, the league said in a statement that “our plans remain in place.”
“The NFL continues to closely monitor coronavirus developments and has been in contact with the World Health Organization, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the NFL-NFLPA-‘s medical experts at the Duke Infection Control Outreach Network (DICON). We will continue to monitor and share guidance as the situation warrants and as our experts recommend.”
“They’ll make the correct decision,” Davis said. “They won’t put anyone in jeopardy over it.”
The NHL announced on Wednesday night that they would not be suspending the season yet.
The annual National Association of Broadcasters show, slated to be held on April 18, the weekend prior to the draft in Las Vegas, was cancelled on Wednesday.
