What will the Superdome look like for Saints games during COVID-19? Let’s discuss.

Now that the NFL and NFLPA have agreed on a revised CBA for 2020, I’m still trying to picture what the Mercedes-Benz Superdome is going to look like when the New Orleans Saints and Tampa Bay Buccaneers take the field on the afternoon of Sunday Sept. 13, some 50 days from now.

Assuming there is a game.

Will there be fans in the stands wearing masks and practicing social distancing? In the 300- and 400-level suites? In the restricted Plaza Club? If so, how many? 10,000? 25,000? 35,000? Will Who Dats be allowed to congregate outside at Champions Square adjacent to the Superdome and tailgate in nearby parking lots and grass fields?

And while owners and players have settled on what they feel is their best course of action to safely navigate a 256-game schedule and postseason en route to Super Bowl LV amid the COVID-19 pandemic, I think back to an ominous observation made weeks ago by 67-year-old Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians.

“The players, they’re all going to get sick, that’s for sure,’‘ said Arians, a three-time cancer survivor who plans to wear a mask and a face shield on the sideline. “It’s just a matter of how sick they get.’‘

League and team officials have been wise to begin with that premise because the coronavirus isn’t showing signs of slowing down. It’s just the opposite based on the spiraling number of positive tests and hospitalizations and daily death counts around the country, including in Louisiana and Mississippi

That reality strongly suggests NFL players, coaches and essential workers are extremely vulnerable because of the very nature of the game, no matter how many safety precautions are taken and tests are administered, and I don’t need Drs. Tony Fauci and Deborah Birx to tell me that.

Period. End of story.

Thirty teams are scheduled to report to training camp Tuesday, including the Black and Gold. The Houston Texans and defending Super Bowl-champion Kansas City Chiefs open the season Sept. 10, thus they report Saturday ahead of the rest of the league.

Under the revised CBA, all preseason games have been canceled. On-field practices won’t start until Day 16 of camp with the first padded practices scheduled to commence five days later This year’s salary cap of $198.2 million per team will remain in effect and the projected financial shortfalls felt by owners during the season will be spread over four years beginning in 2021.

I’m still not totally convinced there will be football in September, let alone in January and the first Sunday of February. But owners and players appear to be making every effort to play ball. That said, I suspect some players will decide not to play this season because of concerns surrounding the pandemic.

I don’t anticipate any Saints players will opt out, though veteran safety Malcolm Jenkins said he wouldn’t feel comfortable playing this season unless the league put the players’ health and financial concerns to rest.

Players must opt out by Aug. 1 in order to receive new CBA-approved season stipends of $350,000 (those players deemed at a high risk) or $150,000 (those players deemed at a low risk). Those decisions are irrevocable. Players also can opt out later in the season under special circumstances.

Next week, I resume my twice-weekly dispatches for the Sun-Herald with a simple game plan. Much like the weekly mindset shared by NFL players and coaches, I plan to keep my head down and take it one Saints column at a time.

This story was originally published July 24, 2020 at 3:41 PM.