Lurie has hope for season, with fans in seats

Jeffrey Lurie is confident the Eagles will play a complete season and at some point, there will be fans in the seats at the Linc. The Eagles’ owner believes the NFL’s coronavirus testing and safety measures have paved the way for the industry to move forward.

“I am optimistic that we’ll be able to play our games,” Lurie said via Zoom Sunday. “So far, things are going awfully well in terms of the protocols. They’re very, very detailed and rightly so. I’m optimistic, but I’m also really cognizant that the virus will control that. We will not control that.”

Lurie said he expects ups and downs with COVID-19 outbreaks despite the safety measures. That could create player shortages at various positions.

“I think we have a significant roster size, we have positional flexibility,” said Lurie, alluding to the 69-man roster teams have at their disposal, including the 16man practice squad. “We know going in that there’s going to be some unusual games where players might be playing positions they’ve hardly ever played but that’s part of being a professional athlete. We embrace it. Honestly, Doug Pederson, his staff, Howie Roseman and his staff, we’ve embraced the unpredictability of it.

“We know that in any given game, there might be one quarterback available or maybe there will be no tight ends and the wide receiver will have to play tight end. Or our defensive end is going to be a defensive tackle or a cornerback is going to have to be a receiver. Maybe our long snapper may not be there.”

Lurie has his fingers crossed the Eagles will play in front of fans at Lincoln Financial Field at some point this season.

Due to city and state health regulations, that won’t happen at least in the first month of the season when the Eagles entertain the Los Angeles Rams and the Cincinnati Bengals.

“We have been trying very, very hard to come up with solutions that are safe and innovative in time for the beginning of the season,” Lurie said. “And we’ve had a lot of really creative and constructive conversations with the state and the city, and that continues on a daily and weekly basis. We are hopeful there’s going to be real ways of having significant fans in our stadium pretty soon. Maybe not for September but after that, and we’re looking at innovative ways of testing, with rapid testing, with point-ofcare testing, with home testing.

“There’s a lot of ways to kind of approach this, and we’ve been incredibly proactive working with companies around the planet to see what they’re up to and whether we can implement testing procedures that would allow the public (in), because the first thing is we love our fans,” Lurie continued. “We know we’ve got a big home field advantage.

We even have an away field advantage in places, as you know, like Washington, Los Angeles, Miami.”

Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott is upset his team cannot play in front of fans while AFC East foes New England and Miami can. The Eagles would have to play two games in front of fans when they travel to Dallas and Green Bay.

“Yes, maybe there’s an advantage for a team to have 10,000, 20,000 fans,” Lurie said. “But we’re not going to let that stop us. We embrace the situation. Do we really want to prevent those 20,000 fans in wherever it is to be unable to watch their team play because we’re not able to have fans on the East Coast? I don’t think so. Fans are the backbone of the sport. I really believe that. I wouldn’t want to sit here and tell you that we’re going to stop those fans wherever it is from attending if it’s safe there just because there just because we think there’s some advantage. I’d rather have them enjoy our sport.”

Lurie claims the Eagles haven’t laid anybody off due to the pandemic despite “significant economic impact.

“We’re in a sport that is unbelievably attractive, thriving,” he said.

“The television business will rebound. I would rather worry about everybody else and right now not worry about us.”

Lurie’s opening statement on Zoom lasted 17 minutes. He spoke about trying to be apolitical but without naming parties or names ripped the Republican administration for the way it’s handled the pandemic and urged everyone on the call to vote in the November election.

Lurie said he backs the NFL players’ movement working for social change and that he’s a fan of the NBA players’ walkout, one in which playoff games were postponed.

“I respect the NBA players,” Lurie said. “They were obviously able to reschedule the game that they missed but just for coming together and taking a stand.”

Asked if he was concerned NFL players would stage a demonstration in which a week of games was canceled or postponed, which quietly appears to be gaining traction, Lurie said he has their backs.

“I’m not worried because I know our players will do what’s best,” Lurie said.