- The NFL has postponed the Tennessee Titans/Pittsburgh Steelers game due to the Titans’ positive coronavirus tests.
- The Tennessee Titans closed team facilities after multiple players and personnel members tested positive for coronavirus.
- The rescheduled game will be now be played later in the season.
When the NFL indicated that the Tennessee Titans’ game against the Pittsburgh Steelers would be played on ‘Monday or Tuesday’ despite the COVID-19 forced Sunday cancellation it sounded like ‘wishful thinking’. You can understand why the NFL wanted to get the game in without having to rework the tightly configured season schedule but it sure didn’t sound like a good idea at the time.
After two more Titans’ players tested positive for COVID-19, the NFL folded their hand. They released a statement that made it sound as if they were doing this proactively:
“The Pittsburgh-Tennessee game scheduled for Week 4 will be rescheduled to later this season after one additional Titans player and one personnel member tested positive for COVID-19 today. An announcement of the new game date will be made shortly.”
“The decision to postpone the game was made to ensure the health and safety of players, coaches and game day personnel. The Titans facility will remain closed and the team will continue to have no in-person activities until further notice.”
The NFL and NFLPA are in Nashville to review the situation. The two sides did reach an agreement to extend daily testing until further notice including bye weeks.
Here’s the announcement that the Don Best live odds feed sent out:
In the short term, the change has no significant betting implications. Since no makeup date was announced at the time of the original postponement bets on the game were graded ‘no action’. There is the potential for some serious impact on futures bets should the game end up not being played this year. Obviously, that’s not how the NFL usually operates and they’ll want to get the matchup rescheduled ASAP but the possibility has to be considered. If teams end up not playing the full 16 game regular season schedule it could be problematic for futures bets and win totals. Here’s another potential issue:
There is also an even more apocalyptic scenario articulated by agent Drew Rosenhaus on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.”:
“I am very worried because we’re only basically going into our fourth week of the season and we’re already postponing a game. It’s very concerning “This has got to be a huge wakeup call for the NFL. … This could happen to any team, any week.”
“I think whoever was confident going into this has to be very shaken. You pray for a speedy recovery for anyone that’s been affected by this terrible illness, but anyone that has taken this lightly or has been cavalier … man, they’re thinking differently right now.”
Simply put, the Titans’ coronavirus issues might not be an isolated incident. If other teams start to test positive and other games have to be postponed the league might need to take more drastic action.
