After a bombshell tweet from ESPN’s Adam Schefter, it now appears there’s a real possibility that the NY Giants, and the rest of the NFL, might not play any preseason games at all.
We’ve spent the last few days here speculating about and covering things like how NY Giants fans won’t be allowed to attend preseason games and what a shame that was.
Now, it looks like there is a legitimate possibility that even the NY Giants players will be shunned from attending – aka playing – in any preseason games after ESPN’s Adam Schefter dropped a tweet Monday night stating that the NFL has given the NFLPA the option to decide on the matter.
NFL offered the NFLPA today to play zero preseason games this summer, per source.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) July 20, 2020
This tweet is stunning, to say the least, as in a normal year the NFL and its owners look at preseason games as an extra influx of cash where they don’t even have to pay the players (most NFL player contracts include no preseason games played clauses and work off workout/signing/roster/regular-season games played bonuses).
As we know though, this is no normal year, and with no NY Giants fans allowed to attend preseason games – a decision that will almost certainly be leaguewide – the owners and NFL have little cash to gain which changes everything.
Combined the money angle with mitigating the risk of a preseason COVID outbreak – which is a real possibility, and would ruin the season – and you then you can really understand why this groundbreaking offer has been made.
The real question is, how will the players feel about it, which is a very complex question.