In LA Rams News: NFL pulled off all 256 regular season games

In LA Rams News: The NFL pulled off a miraculous 2020 NFL season, getting in all 256 games without a single cancellation

The LA Rams have played all 16 games on their schedule this season. While that was quite the feat, now multiply that by 16 and you will find out that this NFL  season was nothing short of miraculous in completely all 256 regularly scheduled games with no cancellations.

That was without an NBA-like bubble. That was with some NFL stadiums allowing limited fan attendance, while other prohibited any fans.  And it was without a lot of confidence from many NFL insiders, who questioned how the NFL could pull off an NFL season with so many variables, and so many huge risks, facing them. And yet, they did exactly that.

Now, how did they achieve this Herculean feat?

NFL and NFLPA fully cooperated as equals

The NFL and NFLPA had just concluded a rather successful new Collective Bargaining Agreement, so all of the players were familiar with one another. That paved the way to a very cooperative negotiation by both sides to create the roadmap for an NFL season.

By allowing players to opt-out, revising the parameters of injured reserve status, increasing the size and utility of the practice squad, and laying the COVID-19 protocols early enough to be effective, the two side hammered out a working template that not only worked amidst the chaos of 2020, but created a host of solution for the future of the NFL.

Innovations for the NFL’s future

The NFL infused a host of technological solutions out of necessity. Now, that information superhighway for video conferencing can be tapped to create regional NFL Scouting combines to afford all 32 NFL teams a detailed and enhanced opportunity to investigate intriguing prospects form the comforts of their office or home.

The NFL has been fixated on the analog method of scouting, prospect analysis, coaching and managing teams. 2020 has changed all of that, perhaps permanently. Now, teams have vitual options to support and augment the NFL on-boarding process, and I expect these technologies will become more robust as the NFL absorbs the positive results of events.

In the end, 2020 had necessitated that the NFL and the NFLPA to question everything. What they created as a result has advanced the NFL process significantly.  The new plateau will be the NFL foundation for years to come. That’s something special.