The National Football League (NFL) on Friday officially announced that three games were moved from this weekend due to COVID-19 surges.
“A surge in COVID-19 cases across the NFL and United States as a whole has resulted in the postponement of multiple Week 15 games,” the NFL said in a statement.
In the past five days alone, 151 NFL players — about 6% of the league — tested positive for COVID-19, Tom Pelissero, NFL reporter twitted.
The league announced Friday that Saturday’s game between the Las Vegas Raiders and the Cleveland Browns has been moved to Monday, while Sunday’s meetings between the Washington Football Team and the Philadelphia Eagles, and the Seattle Seahawks and the Los Angeles Rams have been moved to Tuesday.
Raiders-Browns will air exclusively at 5 p.m. ET on NFL Network. Washington-Eagles and Seahawks-Rams will air at 7 p.m. ET on FOX.
The move by the NFL, the first postponement of professional football games this season, comes as the National Hockey League said it will postpone games of several teams for the same reason, and days after the NBA postponed two games involving the Chicago Bulls due to a Covid outbreak that affected 10 players.
“We have made these schedule changes based on medical advice and after discussion with the NFLPA as we are seeing a new, highly transmissible form of the virus this week resulting in a substantial increase in cases across the league,” the NFL announced in a statement.
“We continue to make decisions in consultation with medical experts to ensure the health and safety of the NFL community.”
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell sent a memo to all 32 teams explaining Friday’s changes to the schedule.
“The emergence of the Omicron variant is precisely the kind of change that warrants a flexible response,” Goodell wrote in a memo obtained by GNB.
A global media for the latest news, entertainment, music fashion, and more.
