What the coronavirus pandemic means for Field Gulls site operations

At Field Gulls, our main objective is to extensively cover the Seattle Seahawks, your favorite football team. Every morning you get CenturyLinks, every pre-game has injury reports, every post-game has Winners and Losers and Cigar Thoughts and All-22, every win has Enemy Reaction, every offseason has stories on the NFL Draft, free agency, training camp, and pertinent news and notes from around the league.

But this is not your ordinary NFL offseason, and that’s because this has not been an ordinary year.

We are in the middle of an official pandemic. Coronavirus is wreaking havoc on the human population, global economies, health care facilities, and of course sports leagues. Nearly every major sporting organization (except the UFC... don’t get me started on that) has suspended competition or outright cancelled seasons. The NFL is not in-season at the moment, but that doesn’t mean offseason activities haven’t already been impacted.

So what are our own plans for the immediate future of Field Gulls as we deal with this very serious and rapidly spreading health crisis? Here’s a quick overview.

Short-Term (March-April)

It looks as if the league year will operate on time. March 18th is the official start of free agency, but the good ol’ “legal tampering” can begin on March 16th. The NFL has considered delaying the start of free agency, although we may not hear a decision until the weekend. We will bring you extensive coverage of free agent news, trades, and anything else of importance as normal.

You can also expect us to continue to cover anything that pertains to the coronavirus, as long as it is related to the NFL and/or the Seattle Seahawks. This can include some government mandates such as Washington governor Jay Inslee’s recent ban on public gatherings of greater than 250 people.

IF the NFL Draft proceeds as scheduled, even without fans, and it’s all online like it’s fantasy football, we will still provide as much coverage as we feasibly can.

The XFL killed its regular season, so our weekly Dragons coverage has obviously come to an end. Any Seahawks signings of XFL players will be covered, though.

Long-Term (May-TBD)

To be quite honest with you, I don’t know. None of us knows what will happen several months down the line. It is way too early to forecast the fate of this upcoming season, never mind the fact that this (very crummy) proposed CBA hasn’t been voted on yet by the players. We’ve already heard enough experts say that the pandemic is going to get worse before it gets better, and that’s even with the current measures taking place all across the country and around the world. In the United States, our presumptive positive COVID-19 cases are incredibly misleading due to limited testing, and we should expect a major spike in the overall totals very soon.

Simply put, we are going to have to prepare for the possibility of a delayed, truncated, or outright cancelled 2020-21 NFL season if there are no considerable improvements made by the summer. And I know “no football” ranks comparatively low relative to more important things in life (such as life itself), but this would have a gigantic impact on us if the worst case scenario does become reality.

Any rule changes?

We usually have a firm “no politics” rule in the comments section. As mentioned earlier, local and federal government decisions that have a direct effect on the Seahawks or the NFL as a whole will be posted here. We are going to ease this rule up but only when the article itself has politics involved. You can discuss how coronavirus impacts the Seahawks (or the NFL), you can discuss the good and bad of the policies that have been enacted, but if it becomes partisan mudslinging or just trashing specific politicians (whether warranted or not) then that’s a no-go.

Everything else remains the same.

Thank you

We appreciate your understanding during these worrisome and uncertain times. I can promise you that Field Gulls will remain your go-to place for Seahawks coverage regardless of what happens over the weeks and months to come.

Hopefully you and your loved ones all stay safe, prepare accordingly, and that we can see this through to its merciful end.

I’m not going to end this piece by telling you to wash your hands thoroughly because frankly you’ve heard that statement about a billion times by now. What I will note is that the opening to “One Week” by Barenaked Ladies clocks in at 20 seconds, so that is a legitimate alternative to “Happy Birthday” as far as I’m concerned.

Oh yes, and the San Francisco 49ers lost the Super Bowl, one year after the Los Angeles Rams scored 3 points in the Super Bowl. Don’t forget those two facts.

SEA!!!!