The NFL is setting up a hotline for players to anonymously report COVID-19 violations, so get ready for a whole lot of snitching.
The NBA snitch hotline was such a fun story in the Orlando bubble, with personnel calling a designate phone number where anyone to violate the league’s COVID-19 rules, that the NFL has decided to follow suit.
The NFL announced the Players Association sent all of its members a phone number that can be texted in a similar manner to the NBA. The number is in place to ensure that teams follow proper protocol to limit the spread of COVID-19.
While the number is designed for purely safety reasons, it may also be used to gain a tactical advantage as well. Clippers coach Doc Rivers referenced how he had used the hotline to report players in hopes of making his team the only one at full strength in the NBA bubble. It’s a guarantee that NFL teams will try to do the same.
Were any player found to be in violation of the league’s protocol, the NFLPA would proceed to file a grievance that could end up in a variety of punishments, such as a fine or possible suspension.
How will the NFL’s snitch hotline work considering there is no bubble?
For the NBA, the hotline made sense. The league required players to abide by numerous restrictions to ensure the integrity of the bubble, as the virus entering the closed area would be detrimental. Additionally, it is far easier to implement considering that teams can watch each other’s every move.
With the NFL, despite the league’s mandates, players have far more freedom than in the NBA considering that a bubble is not in place, and it will be far more difficult to catch any perpetrators.
The NFL’s hotline likely won’t be as efficient as the NBA’s, but if it provides us with some hilarious storylines and is another effort to keep the player’s safe, then what’s not to like about it.