NFL lists protocol for reopening

Goodell sends a memo to all 32 NFL clubs about personnel returning to facilities.

In a memo to all 32 NFL clubs, Commissioner Roger Goodell on Wednesday outlined safety protocol for the reopening of team facilities.

“The past few months have been among the most uncertain times that any of us has experienced,” Goodell wrote in the memo, obtained by The Times. “It is impossible to project what the next few months will bring. Uninformed commentary that speculates on how individual clubs or the league will address a range of hypothetical contingencies serves no constructive purpose … and instead distracts from the careful planning that is needed right now.”

Goodell added, “An important step in the process of planning for the 2020 season involves the reopening of club facilities,” which were closed last month in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The rules are intended to allow for a safe and phased reopening, and were developed in coordination with health experts, among them Dr. Allen Sills, the league’s chief medical officer; and infectious disease physicians at Duke University.

The first phase would involve a number of nonplayer personnel — initially 50% of nonplayer employees, up to 75 people, on a single day, providing state and local regulations allow that many. No players would be allowed in the facility except to continue a course of therapy and rehabilitation that was underway when the headquarters were closed.

Each club must form an infection response team, which includes a local physician with expertise in common infectious disease principles, a club infection control officer, the team’s head trainer and physician, and the human resources director.

Goodell said each club should take steps to have the protocol in place by May 15.