As the NFL and NFL Players Association continue to negotiate the pandemic procedures for training camp, one open issue relates to staying in hotels during training camp.
The players want no mandatory hotel stays. Instead, the NFLPA is pushing for optional hotel stays, both during training camp and other periods.
If, for example, players want to isolate from high-risk family members or rookies don’t have housing in their new cities, hotel accommodations would be provided. But no players would ever be required to stay in a hotel in their home markets. (Most teams, even for home games, spend the night in a local hotel before a game.)
Obviously, staying in a hotel creates concerns during a pandemic, given the possibility of catching the virus while staying in rooms that, no matter how clean they look, could be teeming with all sorts of bacteria and viruses and other undesirable compounds. This factor becomes particularly relevant to the question of travel for road games.
Some teams are considering game-day travel. Some players have reacted negatively to that suggestion. Other players may prefer it, because it means fewer opportunities to spend time in a building that could turn out to be Corona Central.
