All signs continue to point to the 2020 NFL season beginning on time.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and other league officials held a conference call with the media on Thursday during which they revealed that training camp is still expected to begin on schedule. For most teams, that is July 28. However, there are ongoing talks about potentially shortening the preseason.
NFL General Counsell Jeff Pash says teams have been advised that training camps will start as scheduled, July 28 for most teams. Also says league is in "active discussions" with NFLPA on issues such as possible further reduction of preseason games.
— Dan Graziano (@DanGrazianoESPN) June 25, 2020
The annual Hall of Fame Game, which was scheduled for Aug. 6 and would have featured the Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys, has been canceled. Those two teams were set to begin training camp on July 22, but that date has reportedly been pushed back. They will likely target a training camp start date somewhere around July 28 like most other teams.
Shortening the preseason from four games to two is an idea that was in the works weeks ago, and it seems likely to happen. The NFL is already dropping a preseason game next year in order to move to a 17-game regular season, and the reaction to having less preseason games this year would likely be positive.
The NFL has managed to host a virtual draft and proceed with free agency as scheduled, and the plan is to do the same with training camp. Hosting practices will be more complicated, but the league has had a lot of time to prepare with health and safety protocols, and some of those are already in place.
