Get all the latest news on coronavirus and more delivered daily to your inbox. Sign up here.
The idea of sporting events returning to some type of normalcy could include playing without fans, according to medical experts, and at least one NFL quarterback isn’t really excited about that notion.
The Los Angeles Rams and quarterback Jared Goff are expected to play games in a completely new stadium during the 2020 season and the coronavirus pandemic has thrown cold water on a normal opening day for the organization. Playing games without fans isn’t Goff’s cup of tea.
NFL DRAFT HAS SEEN FRANCHISE-ALTERING TRADES OVER THE LAST 20 YEARS
“Not ideal. Not what you want to do,” Goff said in a video conference with reporters on Friday, according to Rams Wire. “I understand there are a lot of bigger implications in place right now as far as health of the world. But I know that’s not the vision we had moving to L.A. and I know that’s not the vision Mr. [Stan] Kroenke had, ultimately, but if that is what it is, we have to roll with it.”
Goff added: “I don’t think it’s anything we want to do, but I’m preparing for full stadiums. Is that going to happen? I don’t know. I don’t know what the percentages are. I’m not a doctor. I’m not a scientist. Where will this progress? I don’t know. You guys don’t know. No one knows. So, we’re going to see in the next three or four months and then find out.”
PATRIOTS COULD TRADE AWAY ALL-PRO LINEMAN DURING NFL DRAFT, REPORT SAYS
Dr. Anthony Fauci, who is among the health experts on the White House’s coronavirus task force, said last week on Snapchat’s “Good Luck America” that he envisions the NFL, among other sports leagues, would return without fans and games being played at neutral sites.
Fauci said there have been proposals from some of the major U.S. sports leagues about playing at neutral sites and keeping players in “big hotels” and making sure they’re rigorously tested.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM
“But there's a way of doing that because there have been some proposals both at the level of the NFL, Major League Baseball, National Hockey League, to get these people tested, and to put them in big hotels, you know, wherever you want to play,” said Fauci, who has been the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984. “Keep them very well surveilled, namely a surveillance, but have them tested, like every week. By a gazillion tests. And make sure they don't wind up infecting each other or their family. And just let them play the season out. I mean, that's a really artificial way to do it, but when you think about it, it might be better than nothing.”