This season is a unique one for the New York Giants and the NFL because for the first time, it’s being played against the backdrop of a major pandemic. The league has been lucky to mostly avoid problems in this area so far – but the regular season hasn’t started yet.
As we approach the start of the season, it’s only natural that there’s more speculation about this subject. The pandemic was brought up multiple times to co-owner John Mara by the press on September 3rd, with one question even being whether or not the team was for sale due to the current economic situation.
The answer from Mara, of course, was no. He insisted the Giants ownership is in for the long haul.
But he also said that he’s not sure if every NFL game will happen without interruption, and that he’s not optimistic about having fans in the stands this year.
Mara cautious during pandemic situation
“I would say I don’t know about all 256 games or whatever it is, but I am definitely more confident now than I was. If you had asked me in March or April, I would have had serious doubts about that,” Mara told reporters when asked about the odds of every game happening without an interruption.
He also mentioned both the very low rate of positive tests and the possibility there could still be setbacks anyway.
“Obviously, there are going to be some setbacks during the season that we’ll have to deal with. But I think we have the protocols and the process in place that we’ll be able to deal with it. If it means postponing a game here or there or making it up, I think we’ll be able to do that,” Mara continued.
The Giants have been lucky in this area so far, but have nonetheless been impacted more indirectly due to opt outs from some players such as Nate Solder and Sam Beal.
Fans in the stands? Probably not.
The atmosphere of an NFL game without fans is an odd one, but that’s what the Giants will have to get used to – for now, at least. Mara didn’t rule out the chance of fans returning to the stands later but wasn’t optimistic about it either.
“We’re not going to have fans certainly in September. I’m hopeful that at some point we can have them back in. But I have to say I’m not all that optimistic about that. In terms of there being fans in other buildings where we go, that’s just the way it’s going to be,” Mara said.
He followed up by acknowledging the situation may not be entirely fair, but that the Giants don’t have another option presently.
“It’s not necessarily going to be competitively fair in the sense that some teams are going to have fans in the building, some teams are not.”
But with the Giants finally set to take on the Steelers soon after a long and uncertain offseason, most will be happy just to have football back. Even if the atmosphere around these games will probably be different than it’s ever been during a past NFL season.