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War rooms for the 2020 NFL draft will now officially be living rooms, basements and home offices across the country. General managers, meet fantasy football. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announced Monday in a memo to teams that the draft will be “fully virtual,” with GMs, coaches and club personnel all in separate locations because of …
War rooms for the 2020 NFL draft will now officially be living rooms, basements and home offices across the country.
General managers, meet fantasy football.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announced Monday in a memo to teams that the draft will be “fully virtual,” with GMs, coaches and club personnel all in separate locations because of the coronavirus outbreak. League and club facilities will remain closed indefinitely, Goodell wrote.
The league closed all team facilities for at least two weeks on March 26. Pre-draft visits have all been taking place through video chats and phone calls and the technology will continue to be vital during the draft with decision makers all confined to their respective homes.
“… [A]fter consulting with medical advisors, we cannot identify an alternative that is preferable from a medical or public health perspective, given the varying needs of clubs, the need properly to screen participants, and the unique risk factors that individual club employees may face,” Goodell wrote.
The draft, set for April 23-25, was originally set to be held in Las Vegas but has since been overhauled because of the pandemic. It will reportedly be televised from a remote studio with teams announcing their picks from separate locations.
Many teams had already been preparing for a virtual draft. The Giants and Jets, with assists from their IT departments, have set up virtual draft boards and are conducting their meetings on video conferences.
The Saints had moved their draft headquarters into a local brewery, though it appears that will not be allowed under the NFL’s new mandate.
