League on track for full season starting in Sept
LOS ANGELES: The National Football League (NFL), the only major American sporting league so far largely unaffected by the coronavirus outbreak, says it is on course to begin its season on time in September.
“We plan announcing late next week the full regular season schedule that begins with Kickoff on September 10 and culminates with the Super Bowl in Tampa February 7, 2021,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said in an email to Reuters.
Each team is expected to play 16 regular season games as per usual, though the league is evaluating contingency plans should this prove untenable, multiple media outlets have reported.
It is yet to be announced whether fans will be allowed to attend games. While other major sporting leagues, including the National Basketball Association (NBA) and Major League Baseball (MLB), have shut down due to the coronavirus, the NFL has been able to buy time before making any major decisions.
Its season ended in early February, shortly before evidence of a major coronavirus outbreak in the United States became widely known. Some areas of the US are now starting to emerge from lockdown as rules are relaxed even as the number of confirmed coronavirus cases rises in some states. Last week’s NFL draft attracted record US television ratings in a country starved of live sporting action.
Meanwhile, Two days after his release from the Cincinnati Bengals, quarterback Andy Dalton agreed to sign a one-year deal with the Dallas Cowboys to back up Dak Prescott, multiple outlets reported Saturday night.
Dalton’s deal is reportedly worth up to $7 million, with $3 million guaranteed. The 32-year-old, who played in college at TCU, already has a home in Dallas and won’t need to move, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported.
He had been connected to the Jacksonville Jaguars — whose offensive coordinator, Jay Gruden, coached Dalton for two years in Cincinnati — the New York Jets and the New England Patriots.
Dalton was released Thursday after nine seasons with the Bengals, who drafted LSU’s Joe Burrow with the first overall pick last weekend. Dalton was due to earn $17.7 million in 2020, the final season of a sixyear contract extension he signed in August 2014.
He told the Bengals’ website in a story published Friday that the timing of his release limited his options.
“This year there were a good amount of quarterbacks that were available,” Dalton said. “I think it would have worked out differently if I had been a free agent when the new league year started (in March). I was still under contract, and that hurt me.”
Dalton ranks first in Bengals history in touchdown passes (204) and second in passing yards (31,594). The three-time Pro Bowl selection started 133 of the Bengals’ 144 regular-season games over the past nine seasons and had a 70-61-2 record.
He threw for 3,494 yards, 16 touchdowns and 14 interceptions in 13 games last year, getting benched briefly in the middle of the season in favor of rookie Ryan Finley. Prescott received the exclusive franchise tag from the Cowboys before he could hit free agency, giving him a one-year, $31.4 million deal. The sides have until July 15 to work out a long-term extension.