NFL Notes:

• Dolphins ownership is planning on a 2020 season.
  • Owner Stephen Ross said he expects there to be a 2020 season, but
    • “The real question is: Will there be fans in the stadiums?”

      

      • According to nfl.com’s Nick Shook, there seems to be a growing sense among owners that a campaign without fans is very much a possibility, though the league has made no determinations on the matter.
  • Earlier this month, the Dolphins revealed their strategy for opening should they have to enforce social distancing guidelines, which include:
    • 15,000 fans in the stadium, all attendees wearing masks, staggered entrances and exits, and people ordering food from their seats.
    • Hard Rock Stadium “became the first public facility to earn the Global Biorisk Advisory Council’s STAR accreditation, the standard used for facilities to implement cleaning, disinfecting and infectious disease prevention work practices to control risks involved with infectious agents like the coronavirus.”
      • This accreditation will allow Hard Rock Stadium to reopen and host fans for events once clearance for activities to resume has been given.
• In that vein, New Jersey has become the most recent state to allow professional sports teams to reopen their facilities. 
  • They will be allowed to host games once their leagues reopen, although fans have not yet been permitted to attend.
  • The NFL gave permission on May 15 for teams to reopen facilities, in accordance with local government guidelines.
    • The Cowboys, Falcons, Steelers, Texans, Colts, Cardinals, and Chiefs all partially reopened their facilities on May 19, and the Bengals followed on May 20.

• Vince McMahon has come out publicly & said he doesn’t plan to be a bidder in the XFL’s bankruptcy auction – so much as you can believe anything Vince McMahon says. 
  • There were allegations that the structure of the initial filing would have allowed him to repurchase the league without having to cover the initial debts.
    • McMahon said he had reserved his legal right to be a bidder in the original bankruptcy claim. He said he did that because “I think I was trying to make up my mind.”
  • This is in regards to the XFL’s bankruptcy filing in Delaware, not the personal lawsuit he is facing from Oliver Luck in regards to Luck’s wrongful termination suit.
    • That suit was filed in Connecticut, because it is where McMahon lives & works.

For those of you who missed it, the NHL released its reopening plans today, inventively called the “Return To Play” plan.

They were hardly specific, but there was a platform by which the league would gradually resume & work towards a Cup final: (details via tsn.ca & sportsnet.ca)

• Phase 1: declare the 2019-20 regular season complete & announce the playoff format.
  • 24 teams would qualify
    • The top-4 clubs of the Eastern and Western Conference would play separate mini round-robin tournaments to determine seeding for the playoffs.
    • The other eight teams in each conference would play best-of-five “play-in” qualifying series to determine the 16 clubs left standing.
• Phase 2: early June – the opening of practice rinks for small, voluntary group workouts on and off the ice.
  • This includes protocols for travelling to club cities, testing, opening practice facilities for small group workouts, and the wearing of personal protective equipment when entering and leaving club facilities.
  • All players and personnel permitted to access training facilities will be tested 48 hours prior to entering, followed by regular testing (twice weekly) throughout Phase 2.
• Phase 3: training camps will open before the first half of July, meaning that if it lasts three weeks the season would likely not resume until August should it be deemed safe to play.
  • The league is planning on returning to play in two hub cities. The list of possibilities include Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Edmonton, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, Toronto and Vancouver.

**Late update: Canadian news is showing a video call with Asst. President Bill Daly, who says that current quarantine rules exclude Canada as a hub, so it’s likely Vegas will be the Western hub.

Incumbent upon this strategy is the admission that if this proposal goes ahead, the 2020-21 season likely won’t start until mid-December or – likely – January 1st.

Also Tuesday, Bettman announced that the draft lottery will be held June 26 and that 15 teams are in the running to win the first-, second- and third-overall picks — the seven whose season is now over and the eight that wind up losing a play-in series.

In the words of Satan himself: 

“Any plan for the resumption of play, by definition, cannot be perfect and I am certain that depending on which team you root for you can find some element of this package that you might prefer to be done differently,” said Bettman.

“We believe we have constructed an overall plan that includes all teams that as a practical matter might have had a chance of qualifying for the playoffs when the season was paused and this plan will produce a worthy Stanley Cup champion who will have run the post-season gauntlet that is unique to the NHL.”

Tonight’s … entertainment?:

• NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series:
  • North Carolina Education Lottery 200 – 8:00PM | FS1
• ESPN 30 for 30:
  • Lance: Part I – 7:30PM | TSN
• Grant – 9:00PM | HIST
  • Episode 2: Lincoln’s General
    • With his back up against the wall, Ulysses S. Grant takes incredible risks, becomes Abraham Lincoln’s favorite General, and prepares for an epic clash with Robert E. Lee.
• Saturday Night Live – NBCSN
  • 7:00PM – Tom Brady
  • 8:00PM – Peyton Manning 
  • 9:00PM | Eli Manning
  • 10:00PM – JJ Watt
• Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel – 10:00 PM | HBO
  • David Scott examines the decisions made by leagues and teams during the coronavirus pandemic;
  • Jon Frankel looks at the successful re-opening of sports in South Korea;
  • Bryant Gumbel discusses the future of sports in the U.S. with the heads of major sports unions – DeMaurice Smith of the NFLPA, Michele Roberts of the NBPA, and Tony Clark of the MLBPA (the NHLPA isn’t considered “major);
  • Andrea Kremer talks to Super Bowl champion and doctor Laurent Duvernay-Tardif about his experience on the frontlines.
• A Future WWE: The FCW Story – 10:00 PM ON FS1
  • Florida Championship Wrestling readied WWE for its future, then faded away. For the first time ever, discover FCW’s story and how the Tampa-based developmental territory was the training ground for Seth Rollins, Charlotte Flair, Big E and more.
    • FCW eventually morphed into NXT and The Performance Center.
•  KBO:
  • Game TBA – 2:30AM | ESPN2

An interesting night on TV, so at least there’s that.