The COVID-19 pandemic caused disruption to gridiron football across the world, mirroring its impact across all sports. Across the world and to varying degrees, leagues and competitions were cancelled or postponed.
Canadian football
CFL On March 12, 2020, the Canadian Football League (CFL) announced the cancellation or modification of several pre-season events in response to the pandemic. Several scouting combines across Canada and the United States were cancelled, while other events such as rules committee meetings were held remotely. The CFL initially planned to hold both its International and National Drafts in April, but it was announced on March 24 that the Global Draft would be postponed indefinitely.
The 2020 regular season had originally been scheduled to begin on June 11. On April 7, Commissioner Randy Ambrosie announced that the season would not begin until at least July. In a press statement, he announced that the CFL was exploring multiple options to ensure that the league will be able to play as close to a full season as possible. On May 20, Ambrosie announced that the season would begin no earlier than September, and the 108th Grey Cup as a neutral site game in Regina, Saskatchewan had been cancelled—with the game site determined by home advantage instead, and Regina therefore being awarded the Grey Cup game played in 2022.
The league explored the possible use of centralized "hub" cities, and requested $30 million in financial assistance from the federal government, and up to $130 million in the event the 2020 season must be scrapped entirely. On August 17, 2020, the CFL announced that the entire 2020 season, including the Grey Cup, would be cancelled as the league's request for funding was rejected by the federal government.
The CFL committed to a shortened 2021 season, with no preseason, and using a 16-week, 14-game schedule (as opposed to 18 games over 21 weeks) beginning on August 5, 2021. The 108th Grey Cup was played on December 12, 2021, in Hamilton, Ontario—the latest that the game had been played since 1937. Due to the expectation of looser capacity restrictions, the schedule was engineered to have all games hosted by teams in the West division for the first two weeks of the season.
The Edmonton Elks had their August 26, 2021 game postponed due to a COVID-19 outbreak within the team; it was postponed to November 16 between two regularly scheduled games on the 13th and 19th, resulting in the team playing three games within the span of a week. Due to Ontario public health orders, the 108th Grey Cup was played at full capacity with proof of vaccination required those who are eligible, but all other public festivities were cancelled. As compensation, Hamilton was therefore awarded the 110th Grey Cup in 2023.
University football U Sports announced on June 8, 2020, that all fall semester national championships had been cancelled. This resulted in the cancellation of the Vanier Cup for the first time since its inception in 1965. Atlantic University Sport, Canada West, and Ontario University Athletics (OUA) all announced that fall semester competition would be cancelled for the season, including football.
American football NFL 2020 season At the onset of the pandemic, the National Football League (NFL) had already concluded its previous season after Super Bowl LIV in early February 2020. Experts acknowledged that the San Francisco 49ers' loss in Super Bowl LIV may have averted early community transmission in California via post-game celebrations and victory parades.
On March 12, NFL had been in its off-season where various NFL teams began to suspend travel by their coaches and player scouts, while the league itself had advised its non-critical staff to work from home. The league did not allow teams to re-open their facilities until restrictions are sufficiently lifted in all U.S. states that contain NFL teams.
The pandemic had an impact on the 2020 NFL draft; draft-eligible players were prohibited by the league from travelling to meet team personnel, and vice versa. The draft went on as scheduled, but public festivities in Las Vegas were canceled, and the draft switched to a remote format where team staff convened from home, with all 32 teams being linked to each other and league staff via Microsoft Teams and other communication software. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell announced the first-round picks from his home in Bronxville, New York. The NFL hosted a charity appeal throughout the draft, supporting aid-related charities. During the broadcast, Goodell announced that Las Vegas would instead host the 2022 NFL draft.
The NFL released its regular season schedule for the season on May 7. While the league intended to play its full season as scheduled, the schedule was formulated so that two weeks of games from the 16-week schedule could be removed without repercussions and Super Bowl LV could be delayed to late February in the event the start of the season had to be delayed to late-October. This followed a blueprint from the season, in which a lockout threatened the season. In addition, the league had to work around The Masters, which was postponed to November, in order to avoid a broadcasting conflict on CBS. Due to logistical issues associated with the pandemic, the NFL suspended its international games in London and Mexico City for the season.
On June 25, the Pro Football Hall of Fame announced that the game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys scheduled for August 6 would be postponed to August 2021. On July 25, the remaining 64 preseason games were also scrapped.
In addition to the game, the hall had planned two separate ceremonies in 2020, a modern-era class of five new inductees on August 8 and a special "centennial class" of 15 to be inducted on September 18 to mark the 100th anniversary of the original meeting that established the NFL. On April 28, 2021, the nine members from both groups who were deceased at the time – eight from the centennial class and Bill Nunn from the modern-era class – were honored with a special ceremony at Umstattd Performing Arts Hall in Canton, Ohio. The event was later shown on separate delayed broadcasts, first on NFL Network then on ESPN2. Those who were still alive were to be inducted in a consolidated ceremony on August 7, 2021.
Whether fans were allowed to attend games was on a case-by-case basis, dependent on local regulations. Teams were allowed to add simulated crowd noise to public address systems to compensate for lower attendance figures. In addition, Fox had planned to add its own sound effects and "crowds" based on computer-generated imagery for its telecasts, according to an interview with its lead announcer, Joe Buck. However, Fox Sports quietly dropped those plans for NFL games after substantial negative feedback when this was tried out on its Major League Baseball telecasts.
On July 10, the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) said that 72 NFL players, or 2.5 percent of players on rosters had tested positive for COVID-19. The NFL and its players' union decided in late July not to create a "bubble" of isolation around their players, unlike the NBA, the WNBA and the NHL.
On September 30, the NFL announced its first regular-season game postponement resulting from the pandemic. Due to an outbreak among the Tennessee Titans, the team's scheduled home game on October 4 against the Steelers was postponed. It was eventually rescheduled for October 25, with the Steelers' road game against the Baltimore Ravens pushed back from October 25 to November 1.
On October 14, the NFL announced cancellation of the 2021 Pro Bowl, which was to have been held at Allegiant Stadium.
As of November 27, 20 games had either been postponed or rescheduled due to outbreaks. The Los Angeles Chargers were to be involved in four of the affected games, with the Titans and New England Patriots changing two each. In addition, both the Sunday Night Football and Thursday Night Football packages saw schedule changes.
The second game between the Ravens and Steelers became the first to be postponed three times. Originally set for the night of U.S. Thanksgiving (November 26) at Heinz Field, it was first pushed back to November 29, then to December 1, and finally to December 2.
Nearly every team had at least one player placed on a new reserve/COVID-19 list, which means either the player tested positive or was in close contact with someone who was. Examples included Cam Newton, Ben Roethlisberger, Matthew Stafford, and Josh Norman. On November 2, the Broncos announced that Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback - and current general manager - John Elway had tested positive, perhaps the most notable NFL figure to be diagnosed. The previous spring, Broncos linebacker and Super Bowl 50 most valuable player Von Miller had COVID-19. In addition, the NFL enforced strict safety protocols, with fines and draft pick reductions possible for violations.
On October 28, it was reported that the NFL planned to cap Raymond James Stadium at 20% of its 65,000-seat capacity for Super Bowl LV. In January 2021, the NFL confirmed a maximum attendance of 22,000 for the game, of which 7,500 were health-care workers that have been vaccinated. Two of those fans kept alive their streak of attending every contest since its inception in 1967.
Due to new restrictions imposed by Santa Clara County, California, the San Francisco 49ers had to move two home games - against the Buffalo Bills on December 7 and the Washington Football Team on December 13 - to State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. When those restrictions were extended to January 8, 2021, the 49ers moved their regular-season finale against the Seattle Seahawks to Glendale. Practices were held in the Phoenix area.
On January 1, 2021, Alvin Kamara of the New Orleans Saints had a positive test for COVID-19 revealed, exactly one week after he tied the all-time record for most rushing touchdowns in an NFL game with six; it had been the longest-standing significant record in the NFL, dating back to Ernie Nevers' achievement in 1929.
On January 5, 2021, a positive COVID-19 test was reported for Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski, making him unavailable to coach in the wild card game against the Pittsburgh Steelers; the game was the first postseason game for the Browns franchise in 18 seasons, which had been the longest drought among NFL clubs. It was part of an outbreak which led to the facility being closed for many days in a two-week period.
On February 3, 2021, the NFL's chief medical officer reported that COVID-19 had infected 262 players and 463 other personnel.
By February 5, 2021, 31 of the NFL's 32 teams (96%) had COVID-19 cases. Only the Seattle Seahawks did not have any cases, despite flying farther than any other NFL team.
2021 season On June 24, the Steelers announced that, due to ongoing health and safety protocols, preseason training would not return to Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, its longtime location prior to the pandemic. Instead, the Steelers would again use their headquarters facilities.
On July 22, the NFL informed teams that it did not plan to reschedule games if a team is hit by a COVID-19 outbreak among players or staff members who have not yet been vaccinated. Instead, the game will be a forfeit for the opposing team, and no one on either team would be paid for that week.
On July 28, the Ravens announced that quarterback Lamar Jackson had tested positive for COVID-19 for the second time; he is the first star player known to be diagnosed with the Delta variant. At about the same time, Indianapolis Colts head coach Frank Reich tested positive and three Colts players were placed in protocol.