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FILE - In this Feb. 3, 2020 file photo NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell speaks during a news conference in Miami. The NFL has set protocols for reopening team facilities and has told the 32 teams to have them in place by May 15. In a memo sent by Goodell and obtained Wednesday, May 6, 2020 by The Associated Press, several phases of the protocols were laid out. The first phase would involve a limited number of non-player personnel, initially 50 percent of the non-player employees (up to a total of 75) on any single day, being approved to be at the facility. But state or local regulations could require a lower number. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, file)
FILE - In this Feb. 3, 2020 file photo NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell speaks during a news conference in Miami. The NFL has set protocols for reopening team facilities and has told the 32 teams to have them in place by May 15. In a memo sent by Goodell and obtained Wednesday, May 6, 2020 by The Associated Press, several phases of the protocols were laid out. The first phase would involve a limited number of non-player personnel, initially 50 percent of the non-player employees (up to a total of 75) on any single day, being approved to be at the facility. But state or local regulations could require a lower number. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, file)Brynn Anderson/Associated Press

Roger Goodell Says NFL Isn't Planning a Bubble Amid COVID-19 Outbreaks

Adam WellsDec 2, 2020

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said Wednesday the league isn't planning to hold the playoffs in a single-location bubble.

During a conference call with reporters, Goodell addressed the NFL's plans amid a recent wave of COVID-19 outbreaks throughout the league.

"We feel strongly that our protocols are working," he said. "... I don't see us doing a bubble in the way the media is talking about it."

Judy Battista of NFL.com noted she "would not be surprised by teams using local hotels as quasi-bubbles, though."

The NFL has made multiple adjustments to its schedule recently. The Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers will play Wednesday, six days after the game was originally scheduled to take place.

That game has been delayed three different times amid a COVID-19 outbreak with the Ravens, which ESPN's Jamison Hensley noted included 10 straight days of positive tests within the organization.

The NFL announced Monday that Pittsburgh's Week 13 game against the Washington Football Team was moved from Sunday to Monday at 5 p.m. ET. The Dallas Cowboys-Ravens game, originally scheduled for Thursday, will be played Tuesday at 8:05 p.m. ET.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the NBA, the NHL and MLB adopted bubble concepts for their playoff games.

There are five weeks remaining in the NFL regular season. The postseason is scheduled to begin Jan. 9 and 10.

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