There’ll be no NFL Draft inside Lambeau Field this year.
The NFL Draft is still set to take place as originally scheduled, April 23-25, but the annual event will feature more significant changes due to the coronavirus pandemic.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell issued a memo to NFL teams on Monday, telling them the draft will be “fully virtual.” It means general managers, coaches and other team personnel will all operate separately from their own homes.
The NFL had originally instructed teams in March to shut down their facilities but had kept open the possibility that organizations might be able to have employees in the same place together, as long as they followed the Center for Disease Control guidelines on social distancing.
In Monday’s statement Goodell said, “All Clubs will not have access to their facilities, which is contrary to the fundamental equity principle that all clubs operate in a consistent and fair way. Moreover, we want all NFL personnel to comply with government directives and to model safe and appropriate health practices. And after 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.”
