Report: NFL Considers Neutral-Site Playoff Bubbles a 'Last-Resort Option'

The NFL is considering hosting the postseason inside a bubble if league executives and health advisers deem it necessary, according to Mark Maske of the Washington Post.

Potential options call for the players, coaches and staffers to stay at local hotels within their franchise markets for the postseason as well as neutral-location stadiums for both the NFC and AFC title games. A bubble for those league-title contests and the Super Bowl is considered a "last resort," though. 

Per Maske:

"The NFL's approach to a potential postseason bubble was described by several people familiar with the league's contingency planning. They stressed that the NFL prefers to conduct its postseason—culminating with the Super Bowl, scheduled for Feb. 7 in Tampa—without resorting to a bubble but will take whatever steps it deems necessary, based on medical recommendations and conditions related to the coronavirus pandemic, to see the playoffs to completion."

In preparation for the Super Bowl, the NFL announced The Weeknd on Thursday as the halftime musical performance.

NFL executives told Maske that the season will only get tougher to stage as winter approaches, with coronavirus cases expected to continue climbing, but both the league and its broadcast partners expect the playoffs to run on schedule. 

Should that require local bubbles to facilitate games, players, coaches and staffers would stay in a hotel near their franchise's practice facilities, using private transportation to shuttle employees between the two areas as well as the stadium on game day. 

The idea is to create as much of a sealed-off environment as possible to keep players healthy.

Most notably, the NBA did not have a single player test positive once it went into a bubble, with all athletes staying on the campus of the ESPN Wide World of Sports in the Orlando, Florida, area. However, the NFL will not house all of its teams in one location like its counterpart. 

If the two conference title games are shifted to neutral locations, Maske noted the NFL would look to use two warm-weather-based stadiums to host the matchups.