NFL to cancel Hall of Fame Game to open pre-season

• The NFL is cancelling the Hall of Fame Game scheduled for early August, making its first adjustment to its 2020 schedule due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The cancellation was announced Thursday by the Pro Football Hall of Fame.the game involving the Dallas Cowboys and Pittsburgh Steelers had been scheduled for Aug. 6 in Canton, Ohio.

The Hall of Fame Game serves as the annual lid- lifter to the NFL’S pre- season schedule. The Aug. 8 enshrinement ceremony for the newest members of the Hall of Fame — players Steve Atwater, Isaac Bruce, Steve Hutchinson, Edgerrin James and Troy Polamalu; coaches Bill Cowher and Jimmy Johnson, and contributors Steve Sabol, Paul Tagliabue and George Young — is also being postponed.

Most NFL teams are scheduled to report to their training camps July 28. The reduction of the pre- season to two games per team, which is being considered by team owners, would allow players to be eased into full- speed on- field activities at a slower- than- usual pace before pre- season games begin. That potentially could reduce injuries following an off-season that included no on- field practices by teams, as their off-season programs for players were conducted remotely. Those off-season programs officially end Friday.

The league also has considered an earlier opening to training camps, a person familiar with the deliberations said previously, to allow for that slower ramping- up of on- field activities. But the NFL Players Association would have to approve an earlier start to training camps and it appears increasingly unlikely that will happen.

The NFL’S regular season is scheduled to begin Sept. 10.