On the eve of Super Bowl weekend, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell wrote President Biden to tell him that each of the league’s 32 teams “will make its stadium available for mass vaccinations of the general public.”
Driving the news: Goodell wrote in the letter, dated Thursday, that this can be done swiftly “because many of our clubs have offered their facilities previously as COVID testing centers as well as election sites over the past several months.”
Why it matters: This continues an effort by the NFL to use its unique footprint to help the U.S. recover from the pandemic.
- The fact that a Super Bowl is even being played amid the pandemic reflects the NFL’s successful navigation of hurdles that once threatened to curtail or shut down the season.
- Amazingly, the league played all 256 regular-season games with no cancellations, AP reports.
- The NFL is treating 7,500 vaccinated health care workers from across the country to seats in the pandemic-shrunk crowd for Sunday’s game in Tampa.
Goodell’s letter says the NFL is “committed to doing our part to ensure that vaccines are as widely accessible in our communities as possible.”
- The clubs will make the stadiums available “in coordination with local, state, and federal health officials.”
Read the full letter via DocumentCloud.
