COVID-19 numbers are rising almost everywhere right now and this is majorly affecting sports leagues. The NHL has announced that the league will be shutting down for 4 days due to the COVID outbreak in the league right now. There have already been about 50 games postponed this season due to COVID. The NFL has over 140 players on the league’s COVID list and the NBA has more than 80 players out currently due to COVID rules. With more and more players joining each league’s COVID list people are beginning to question what the owners are willing to do to keep people safe. Some players and coaches are also choosing not to get vaccinated which affects teams in many different ways and sparks many arguments throughout social media.
A new COVID-19 variant, Omicron, is beginning to spread all throughout the world. Places and businesses are beginning to shut down again and now people are wondering if sports will do the same. Omicron seems to be highly contagious but the symptoms are not as severe as past COVID strands. Due to the contagiousness of Omicron once one player or staff member tests positive it tends to bring down a load of other people too. Lots of games in the NHL were being postponed because so many people were being put into COVID protocol that they did not have a full roster. Assistant coaches were also having to become head coaches for games at a time due to head coaches being placed in COVID protocols. With tons of players being placed on COVID lists some leagues decided to change the quarantine time. The NFL just recently changed from 10 to 5 days as long as the person is not symptomatic and they also have to wear a mask for 5 days upon returning. This rule was changed in the NFL after the CDC changed this rule too. The NBA is also seeing a huge increase in COVID cases which seemed to only truly sky rocket in December. The United States is still allowing fans in all arenas but Canadian teams are no longer having fans present. As leagues are all trying to understand this new COVID strand they are also trying to keep making money since the teams and leagues of many different sports lost so much due to the total shut down in 2020 and many not having fans until recently.
Along with many staff members and players being put into COVID protocols currently another issue is the COVID vaccine. Some players or staff do not agree to getting it and this affects many different things on teams. NHL Commissioner, Gary Bettman confirmed that there are currently only 4 players that are not vaccinated. This was said as an incredibly proud statement showing how cooperative everyone has been with the new standards. The NBA also did amazing getting their players vaccinated and have a 97% vaccinated rate as of December 15th. Along with these two leagues the NFL also has over 90% of just players vaccinated. Most of the staff members are also vaccinated throughout all the leagues too. Since many players are vaccinated this changes the way they can live especially when they are with their team on roadtrips. Players in the NHL that are unvaccinated can not go to restaurants or bars while on trips with the team and they are only allowed in the hotel and practice facility along with the arena. They also can not have any visitors in their hotel rooms at any time. NFL unvaccinated staff and players will have to be tested daily still and the players can not gather with more than three other players at a time. The unvaccinated people are also able to get fined if they break any rules such as being at large gatherings and not wearing your mask properly in the facility. As the vaccine becomes more and more regulated people are wondering how they are going to continue treating unvaccinated athletes.
Sports leagues are currently trying to figure out many different issues with COVID-19 such as the new COVID strand and dealing with unvaccinated players and staff. More information is being found everyday on this virus and everyone is hoping to find a new normal and sports leagues are hoping to find one too.