NFL tells teams coaches can return to facilities Friday if local regulations allow
The NFL is moving into Phase 2 of reopening, and beginning Friday will allow coaching staffs to return to their respective team facilities, providing those clubs have received the necessary permission from state and local authorities.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell sent a memo to all 32 teams Thursday, informing them that clubs may increase the number of employees in the facility from 75 to 100 subject again to local regulations and the implementation of protocols developed under the leadership of Dr. Allen Sills, the league’s chief medical officer.
“It will obviously will be a learning process for all of us,” Sills told The Times on Thursday of reopening. “This is a novel virus and there’s still so much we have to learn about many aspects of it. But we’re not unique in society in that way. That’s affecting healthcare systems and schools, and anyone who has to contend with how they may operate while still acknowledging the uncertainties that exist.”
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Goodell said that coaches and other football staff who might be in a higher risk category for COVID-19 are expected to speak with the club medical staff or personal physician about special precautions that may be necessary.
Said Sills: “We’ll need to be flexible and available as new knowledge becomes available and as we gain new insights into the virus.”
Players, with the exception of those in a rehabilitation regimen, are not yet allowed to return to the facilities.
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