Facilities: NFL coaches allowed to return
Coaches will be allowed to return to NFL team facilities closed because of the coronavirus pandemic as the league continues preparation for training camps and its season.
Commissioner Roger Goodell told the 32 clubs in a memo obtained by The Associated Press that coaching staffs may work from team complexes starting today. Previously, only up to 75 people per day could be at the facilities, with coaches and players not seeking treatment for injuries barred.
“As has been emphasized in previous advice on reopening facilities, this may occur only if your club has otherwise received necessary permission from state and local governments to reopen its facility,” Goodell wrote.
All coaches will count toward the maximum number of club employees in the facility, but that number will be increased to 100 — also subject to governmental regulations and implementation of health protocols developed by the NFL’s medical staff.
“Guys are all set up — we’ve got meetings with the players tomorrow; everyone is set up at their homes,” Miami Dolphins coach Brian Flores said Thursday. “I imagine it would be hard; we would hate to have a glitch with the players because we want to go back in the office.”
Team facilities were closed in March, and the league developed a phasing plan for them to reopen, pending governmental permission.
BILLS ROOKIE QB APOLOGIZES
FOR RACIALLY INSENSITIVE COMMENT » Buffalo Bills rookie quarterback Jake Fromm apologized for using the phrase “elite white people” in a text conversation from more than a year ago.
The former Georgia starter posted his apology on his Twitter account, in which he wrote: “I’m truly sorry for my words and actions and humbly ask for forgiveness.”
In saying he never meant to imply he was an elite white male, which he noted during the text conversation, Fromm added: “There’s no excuse for that word choice and sentiment. While it was poor, my heart is not.”
Fromm, selected in the fifth round of the draft in April, said he also apologized to his teammates and coaches in a team meeting.
“He was wrong and he admitted it to us. We don’t condone what he said,” the Bills said in a released statement. “We will continue to work with Jake on the responsibilities of being a Buffalo Bill on and off the field.”
Olympics
IOC SEEKS INSURANCE COMPENSATION FOR DELAYED TOKYO OLYMPICS » The International Olympic Committee is in talks with insurers over being compensated for the postponed Tokyo Games.
An “open discussion” is under way with insurance brokers, the IOC’s Olympic Games operations director Pierre Ducrey said. The aim is “to try and find the right level of compensation to help us bear the cost of having to wait another year,” Ducrey said.