The National Football League released a memo to its member clubs on Monday announcing that the 2020 NFL Draft will still take place on its previously scheduled date of April 23-25. However, instead of being held on location in Las Vegas, the draft will occur via a virtual format.
Essentially, head coaches and front office personnel will trade their traditional War Rooms for their respective Living Rooms during this time of social distancing and isolation.
During times of great uncertainty, a silver lining for teams and future NFL players is that this format will allow the draft process to culminate, allowing everyone to get acclimated to their new situations as quickly as possible. Teams will want their rookies learning playbooks and the rookies will want to communicate with their new coaches and teammates while getting settled in a new city.
The memorandum from league commissioner Roger Goodell wrote:
“Because of these circumstances, Clubs have been advised to prepare to conduct the 2020 Draft entirely outside of their facilities and in a fully virtual format, with club personnel in separate locations and able to communicate with one another and Draft headquarters by phone or internet. We have reviewed this matter in the past few days with both the Competition Committee and CEC, and this will confirm that Clubs will conduct their Draft operations remotely, with club personnel separately located in their homes.
“We have made this decision for several reasons. All Clubs will not have access to their facilities, which is contrary to the fundamental equity principle that all clubs operate in a consistent and fair way. Moreover, we want all NFL personnel to comply with government directives and to model safe and appropriate health practices. Our staff will carry out its responsibilities in the same way, operating in separate locations outside of our offices. And after consulting with medical advisors, we cannot identify an alternative that is preferable from a medical or public health perspective, given the varying needs of clubs, the need properly to screen participants, and the unique risk factors that individual club employees may face.
Source: http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000001108454/article/2020-nfl-draft-will-proceed-in-fully-virtual-format
Hopefully, this transition will be seamless for everyone involved from ownership, front offices, coaches, players, and even fans. Perhaps this will allow things to feel more normal for a few days.
