NFL, Players Coalition Donate $3M to Coronavirus Relief Efforts

The NFL and the Players Coalition announced Monday a donation of $3,050,000 to "health systems, individual hospitals and non-profit organizations in Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Detroit, Florida, Louisiana and Washington, D.C." amid the COVID-19 pandemic.  

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell provided the following statement on the donation:

"This is a difficult time for our nation, and it is important for us to continue to find ways to support those that need it most. We have an opportunity to direct financial resources to the hardest hit populations. This pandemic is having a tragic effect on communities of color and through Inspire Change and our relationship with the Players Coalition, we are pleased to be able to help where we can."

Former NFL wideout and Players Coalition co-founder Anquan Boldin also spoke about the donation:

"We know that during this difficult time, our minority and low-income communities are struggling disproportionately with the impact of COVID-19. Communities in Detroit, Chicago, Baltimore and more are getting hit hard right now, and we want to do our part in ensuring these areas have even the basic needs. We are glad we can partner with the NFL to support the organizations who are on the ground providing for these families."

Recent studies have shown that African American communities are being hit disproportionately hard by the coronavirus pandemic, with higher percentages of both confirmed cases and deaths. 

"We continue to see the same things over and over, with the way our minority and low-income communities struggle even more in difficult times like this," Boldin added in a phone interview with The Undefeated's Jason Reid. 

"Just the disparities in the ways that we are treated and the resources that are available to us. And now with something as horrible as this, with COVID-19, you want to get involved. You want to try to help out any way that you can. That's where we are as a coalition."

Per NFL.com, the greater NFL community has donated over $50 million in total to help combat the coronavirus pandemic.  

To date, there have been 776,513 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the United States, per CNN.com, with 41,313 deaths.