NFL Will Reportedly Shorten the 2020 Preseason to 2 Weeks

Buffalo Bills offensive guard Quinton Spain (67) during a game between Buffalo Bills and the New England Patriots in 2019. Photo by Eric Canha/CSM/Shutterstock (10511257bs)

The National Football League has reportedly made the decision to halve the length of its traditional four-week long preseason schedule, and will only have its teams play two games to tune up for the 2020 regular season.

While no official announcement has been made, league sources told Pro Football Talk that the league will essentially eliminate Weeks 1 and 4 of the scheduled preseason in order to reduce team travel and contact between players in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

The league currently believes that players will be forced to quarantine for two weeks prior to training camps, which would mean that they would have to enter an isolation bubble as soon as this week had they gone forward with the previously-planned schedule.

Instead, season preparations are set to be packed into a shorter amount of time in order to lesson the burden on the league’s players as well.

All teams are set to play one home game and one road game as part of the modified preseason docket. The first week of games will take place between August 20th and 24th and the second week of games will happen between August 27th and August 31st.

If the current pandemic does not throw a wrench into the NFL’s plans, the regular season is set to kick off on September 10th.

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