NFL cancels annual owners meetings amid coronavirus concerns

The NFL has canceled the annual owners meetings, which were scheduled to take place from March 29 through April 1 in Florida, amid concerns over COVID-19 (novel coronavirus). Tom Pelissero of NFL Network reported the news on Thursday.


The NFL released the following statement regarding the decision.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell notified the clubs today that after careful consideration and consultation with medical experts, the NFL's annual meeting scheduled for March 29-April 1 has been canceled.

There will be full consideration and votes on any open football issues, including playing rules, bylaws, and resolutions, as well as other business matters that were on the agenda for the Annual Meeting, at the Spring meeting scheduled for May 19-20. Most of the first day will be dedicated to football-related issues. Head coaches and general managers will participate in the meeting.

This decision was made consistent with the league's primary concern to protect the health of club and league employees and the public while enabling the league to continue with its essential business operations.

We will continue to closely monitor developments, consult with leading experts, and be prepared to make any changes necessary as circumstances warrant.

This information comes after the league informed NFL teams that the decision to continue with pre-draft visits by prospects to team headquarters would be left up to each club.

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Several NFL teams, like the Washington Redskins, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, New York Jets, New York Giants, and Minnesota Vikings, have all pulled their coaches and scouts off the road during a time when pro days are taking place. While some schools, like Clemson and Wisconsin on Thursday, continued with their scheduled pro days, others, like Michigan, have canceled theirs.


As of this post, the new league year is still scheduled to begin on March 18 with the negotiating window between teams and free agency representatives scheduled to start two days earlier.

There have been no announcements of any changes to the 2020 NFL Draft, which is currently scheduled for April 23-25 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The NBA announced on Wednesday that the 2020 season was suspended after a player tested positive for the coronavirus. The NHL also, at least temporarily, suspended its season.

The MLB is expected to follow a similar path. The baseball league already suspended spring training play and will possibly delay the start of the 2020 season. The NCAA also announced that the upcoming tournament games for Division I men's and women's basketball would be played without fans in attendance.

Update: The NCAA announced that its remaining games have been canceled.

That leaves the NFL as the last of the major sports leagues not to suffer significant disruption. Of course, that is due to it being the offseason for the league.