NFL Cancels Hall of Fame Game, Induction Ceremony
While the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on most professional sports across the globe, the NFL had remained mainly unscathed over the past several months. The NBA and NHL had to pause their seasons back in March while Major League Baseball postponed Opening Day and only this week reportedly came to an agreement on a 60-game schedule to begin next month. Meanwhile, the NFL managed to conduct their offseason activities, including free agency and the NFL Draft, with limited interruptions. Teams have even managed to do voluntary OTA work via the internet and Zoom meetings.
On Thursday, the first big shot across the bow that things may not be quite as normal as we would have hoped was fired. Sources from the league have reported that the Hall of Fame Game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Pittsburgh Steelers on August 6 has been canceled. In addition, the 2020 Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony has been canceled as well. It marks the third time in the last decade that the Hall of Fame Game was canceled: it wasn’t played in 2011 as part of a lockout and also was not played in 2016 due to unsafe playing conditions.
The cancellation of the game means that the Steelers and Cowboys won’t return to camp on July 22 or so as originally planned. Instead, they’ll likely report around July 28 or 29 with the rest of the NFL teams in preparation of the season. It’s unclear if the cancellation of the game will prove to be the first step in the shrinking of preseason as has been previously bandied about or not. As it stands, the league is expected to discuss the dates for the beginning of training camp, among other things, in a conference call on Thursday afternoon.
The league remains optimistic that they can play football with their regular schedule this season but it’s going to be the equivalent of hitting a moving target. Things can change pretty quickly with the whole COVID-19 pandemic as a couple of weeks ago, it seemed like this game would go off with business as usual. By last week, Ohio governor Mike DeWine seemed to be pessimistic about the chances that would happen and today, we know for a fact that there will be no Hall of Fame Game.
Instead of playing this year in Canton, the Cowboys and Steelers matchup has been shifted to take place to open up the 2021 preseason slate. In addition, the enshrinement ceremony, which would have seen Steve Hutchinson, Isaac Bruce, Steve Atwater, Edgerrin James, Troy Polamalu, Bill Cowher, Jimmy Johnson, Steve Sabol from NFL Films, former commissioner Paul Tagliabue and George Young receive their gold jackets, likely will take place next year as well. That will make for a crowded field at the 2021 Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony should there be a decent crop of inductees for that class.
We’ll continue to monitor the situation and figure out how things may unfold in the coming days with news as it becomes relevant.
