The NFL is gambling it can survive the COVID test without leaguewide testing – Toronto Star

Given the National Football Leagues history as sporting behemoth built on the back of North Americas insatiable appetite for sports betting, maybe it only makes sense that the NFL is the first to navigate the COVID-related chaos upon us by taking a particular pandemic gamble.

On the surface, at least, there are those who will tell you the NFLs weekend decision to halt COVID testing on players who are vaccinated and asymptomatic doesnt seem so risky. Never mind that widespread testing and early virus detection has, to this point, been one of the cornerstones of the return-to-play policies of all the big sports leagues, and continues to be in place in the NHL and NBA.

Risk is relative. And when you weigh a case of asymptomatic coronavirus against the usual occupational hazards of a pro football player, even a virus that has killed more than 800,000 Americans doesnt necessarily seem so daunting. In a workplace where the employees face the very real prospect of incurring life-altering brain trauma, not to mention other various forms of debilitating bodily harm, whos afraid of a little potential respiratory distress? It is a survivalists sport played by some of the greatest, fittest athletes on the planet. Surely they will be mostly fine if they carry around a little COVID.

That is an assumption thats impossible to make given how little we ultimately know about this virus.

And as for the not-so-small detail that asymptomatic carriers, even vaccinated ones, can transmit the virus, and that NFL players arent living in a bubble, lets just say this might not be what most of us have in mind when we applaud athletes for giving back to their communities.

Still, in world anxious to get back to business as usual, this is about business as the No. 1 priority. Most NFL careers are short and come with few guarantees. So doing whatevers necessary to ensure this NFL season continues to bulldoze its way through the pandemic comes down to money, both for the leagues billionaire owners and for its rank-and-file athletes. Its one thing to make a decision thats antithetical to public health. Forfeited dates hurt personal wealth. On that front, the NFL stayed on track to get through its Week 15 without sacrificing so much as a game, albeit with a Tuesday doubleheader still ahead. Clearly, they have no appetite to miss games in Week 16 and beyond.

Tweaking the testing criteria in a way that is likely to produce fewer positives is a plain statement of intent: The NFL is going to play this season, start to finish. And if the league suddenly knows a lot less about how widespread the virus is in its midst, it is willing to take that risk.

With the NHL already awash in COVID-related postponements, and with the NBA doing its best to keep games going even if it means rosters dotted with replacement players unrecognizable to anyone outside their immediate families, maybe its no surprise that there have been jealous rumblings that hockey and basketball ought to mimic the NFLs instinct to plow through. As Steve Yzerman, the Hall of Fame player and Detroit Red Wings general manager, was telling reporters the other day, our players are testing positive with very little symptoms, if any symptoms at all I dont see it as a threat to their health at this point.

I think you might take it a step further and question why are we even testing, for guys that have no symptoms? Yzerman continued. I think (the league is) going to act and make a decision based on the health of everyone involved, for the health of society in general.

Ryan OReilly, the St. Louis Blues captain, echoed the sentiment.

Weve got guys vaccinated and double vaccinated and some guys arent showing any symptoms, and theyre getting popped and theyre in COVID protocol," O'Reilly told reporters. I think Id like to see no testing unless you have symptoms, but its not up to me.

Decisions like this, of course, shouldnt be left up to players who have spent their careers pushing through injury and sickness to achieve their goals, especially in a post-bubble situation where those players arent cordoned off from society. Theyre playing in arenas with support staff and fans, at least for now. Theyre inhabiting weight rooms and dressing rooms and gyms populated by team employees. They have the resources for regular testing in a world where the rest of the population is lining up around the block for short supplies of free rapid tests. And theyre only operating their leagues, by the way, by the grace of public-health units and governments who have the power to shut them down and probably wont be thrilled in this country, at least to hear high-profile calls for a lowering of infection-control standards.

But theres another reason why the NHL and NBA cant as easily crib the NFLs wont to test less: The NHL and NBA have an international border to cross, which comes with testing requirements for all. Precisely how tenable the regular crossing of that border will become in the days ahead is anyones guess; on Saturday, the Golden State Warriors were so nonplussed by the perilousness of the journey to Toronto that they sent a skeleton crew of relative no-names to play the Raptors, leaving the big talent in the States. As much as the Raptors would benefit from playing home games against Americas G-League-level travelling parties, its not a situation thats sustainable.

Its not as though there are a lot of attractive choices here, let alone easy ones. The NBA and NHL, both of which have tightened protocols around masking and testing, are at least trying to put the brakes on what might be a runaway train. But when weve living in a moment of chaos, you cross your fingers and hope as much as anything. A full NHL shutdown might be coming, although the NBA is clearly doing its best to give itself every chance to first salvage its all-important Christmas Day schedule of games, a traditional ratings winner. The Maple Leafs have halted all team activities until after the Christmas break. The Raptors are back to practising like its the bad old days of socially-distant cautiousness one player and one masked coach at a time.

The NFL has chosen to do its best to pretend COVIDs latest wave isnt upon it. Among vaccinated players, only the symptomatic will be tested, which means anyone who cares about his game cheque, let alone the playoff implications, surely wouldnt be foolish enough to cop to so much as a runny nose. Its what you would expect from the league of denial. Dont ask and dont tell if you dont feel well. Plough through and get paid. At a moment when there are no absolutes, save for the desire to finish a season, its a gamble the NFL is clearly willing to take, no matter the risks.

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The NFL is gambling it can survive the COVID test without leaguewide testing - Toronto Star