The NFL is a microcosm of corporate America today. Realistically, you can’t operate your business without risk and when that risk is health related, you open yourself to legal exposure.
The timing of this affords the NFL a wait and see approach as basketball and baseball will be the first to take their lumps. Since COVID is on the rise this summer, flu season will correspond with the NFL schedule and we will see how our country responds one way or the other.
I actually took a vacation from Missouri to see my son, daughter in law, and grandchildren in Georgia and the spent beach time with my wife in Florida and Alabama. With the exception of SOME businesses requiring employees wear masks and a FEW people wearing masks in public, it all looks like business as usual. That’s also true here in southern Missouri. I’d say that MOST people believe (by their behavior) the risk of death is minimal so they want to live their lives as normally as they can. MOST people find the arrows at the grocery stores annoying. MOST of us sports fans are jonesing hard to watch a meaningful game. Businesses and livelihoods depend on activity for economic survival.
I’m not saying this approach is correct. The loss of life is tragic and important to mitigate. I’m just saying that unless you’re doing your part to quarantine AS A SACRIFICE TO PROTECT OTHERS, it’s irresponsible to criticize companies and workers who are doing things much as you do. By sheer observation, MOST people in our country are not following the guidelines prescribed to keep this autumn from becoming a disaster. All we can hope is that the medical community will be prepared to handle the caseload that’s inevitably coming.
With that said, reading the tea leaves, I predict the NFL season will begin and eventually be suspended. Our country will continue to be deeply divided about policy. And if all goes well AFTER the upheaval, moderate voices will prevail and seek to create better solutions.
