The clouds eventually will part. The pandemic eventually will end. Normalcy, in more ways than one, eventually will return.
For the NFL, that could happen by next season.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infections Diseases, told Yahoo Sports on Monday that pro football could see crowded houses by the start of the 2021 campaign.
“Oh, that’s possible,” Dr. Fauci said regarding the possibility of full NFL stadiums by September. “I think that’s possible.”
Given the wildly varying rules applicable to different states and different localities in 2020, it’s also possible that stadiums will be full for some teams in some places (Florida and Texas) and that other stadiums will remain empty, or at least closer to empty than full.
The first (and hopefully only) anniversary of the pandemic is only three months away, and things are getting worse, not better. The best news come from the impending arrival of vaccines, even if it’s still unclear how anyone will convince those who refuse to put a mask onto their faces to put a needle into their arms.