NFL Odds Point To Over 11 Regular Season Games Being Rescheduled

• The Tennessee Titans, New England Patriots, and Las Vegas Raiders have now all had to deal with players testing positive with COVID-19.
• Oddsmakers have over 10.5 games being rescheduled at -220 odds for the 2020 season.
• The NFL has updated its protocols to stop outbreaks from happening along with enhancing the consequences that follow if protocols are violated.

NEW YORK – Positive cases of COVID-19 have increasingly popped up around the National Football League and have already begun to affect scheduled games.

As Week 5 of the season begins on Thursday, the concern on the leagues’ coronavirus outbreak has heightened as reports of more infected players have been released.

Another member of the New England Patriots, Stephon Gilmore, has tested positive making him the third member of the team in the last week and the team has announced plans to not practice on Wednesday.

Legal sports betting sites have posted odds on how many games in the regular season will be postponed or canceled now that this outbreak is growing.

The Tennessee Titans and the Pittsburgh Steelers Week 4 game was the first game to be postponed this season and it was because of the overwhelming number of positive cases for Tennessee players and staff.

That game between the Titans and the Steelers was rescheduled for Week 7 on October 25 after moving the originally scheduled Steelers at the Baltimore Ravens game to Week 8 which is a bye week for both teams.

The Patriots and Kansas City Chiefs game was pushed back from a Sunday game to a Monday Night Football game after Patriots QB Cam Newton tested positive for COVID-19.

“You need to be flexible,” said John Harbaugh, Ravens coach. “This is the year for that. You just don’t worry about it. I do believe and understand the league has the best interest at heart, and everybody has to do what they have to do.”

After the outbreak in the Tennessee Titans organization, all 32 teams received a memo from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell listing new protocols to follow to lessen the chances of more outbreaks during the season.

Some of the changes to the protocols include banning gathering outside of the team facility, requiring a longer onboarding process for free-agent tryouts, and instating a league-wide video monitoring system to ensure protocols are followed.

Goodell also stated that any team that violates protocols resulting in virus spreading and rescheduled games, will face a loss or adjustment of draft choices or have to face forfeiting a game.

The possibility of forfeiting games could have an impact on NFL betting odds across the board. That team’s new record will affect their odds to win their division, their conference, and also their odds to win the Super Bowl.

The NFL has already felt the blow of COVID-19 early on this season, but NFL bettors may feel the effects later this year.

News tags: Baltimore Ravens | Cam Newton | COVID-19 | John Harbaugh | Kansas City Chiefs | New England Patriots | NFL | Pittsburgh Steelers | Roger Goodell | Tennessee Titans