NFL announces teams can re-open club facilities as early as May 19th

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell sent a memo to the 32 clubs informing them they are allowed to start re-opening their facilities as early as next Tuesday, May 19th. Re-opening depends in part on governing state and local regulation, and coaches and players are not allowed back yet. The one exception is currently rehabbing players, who have already been allowed to work at the team’s facility.

Clubs are allowed to have no more than 50 percent of staff in the facility, and the total number cannot exceed 75 people. If they operate at multiple locations, the 75-person total applies in total, not per facility. While coaches and players are not allowed back yet, anybody else in the front office, including football operations and administration, equipment staff, medical staff, and nutritionists. If the strength and conditioning coach is currently active in player rehab, that coach may continue work in the facility. If not, that coach may not return until the rest of the coaching staff is allowed to return.

The coach exception is so as to not give some teams an unfair advantage over others. Some state and local regulations would allow for coaches to return, but since not every coach will be allowed to return, the league wants to avoid giving some teams the advantage.

Goodell said the league is continuing to work with the NFLPA and their medical teams for developing protocols to permit some number of players to return to facilities “as early as next month.” The timeline on that remains unclear, and is notable because teams have until late June to complete their offseason workout programs.