Odds on the 2020 NFL Season Being Suspended or Paused Due to COVID; How Many Games Will Be Moved?

• The 2020 NFL season started on time but the COVID-19 pandemic finally made an impact in Week 4
• In Week 4, the Pittsburgh Steelers-Tennessee Titans and New England Patriots-Kansas City Chiefs games were postponed
• How big of an impact will COVID-19 have on the rest of the season?

The 2020 NFL season was cruising along just fine up until Week 4. The global pandemic finally took a toll as two games were postponed due to the virus. There are now all sorts of props on the board relating to whether the season will be suspended, as well as an over-under on how many games will be moved.

Let’s take a closer look and see if there’s any value on the board.

2020 NFL Season COVID-19 Odds

Odds as of Oct 6.

Patriots-Chiefs, Steelers-Titans Postponed

COVID-19 wasn’t much of a factor in the first few weeks of the 2020 NFL season. While the season started on time, the virus reared its ugly head in Week 4. The Pittsburgh Steelers-Tennessee Titans games were both postponed to Week 8 and the New England Patriots-Kansas City Chiefs game was pushed to Monday after Cam Newton had a positive test.

Titans-Steelers game this week is being rescheduled for later this season, per source.

There were two more positive tests in Tennessee — one player, one personnel.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 1, 2020

The league was able to carefully maneuver. With the Patriots-Chiefs game, it was moved to Monday night as the virus had not spread around the team. However, with the Steelers-Titans game, they had to move around another game – the Steelers-Ravens contest, moving it to Week 7 – to make this work.

If there is a second wave as many experts predict, it will be difficult to start making all sorts of accommodations as teams are forced to reschedule.

How Many Games Will Be Moved?

The over-under for games moved is set at 10.5 and this is a really tough prop to project. The league has been very careful with their players and testing, and for the most part, they’ve made it through the first month with minimal damage. The challenge is that the United States appears to be entering its second wave.

The start of the football season seemed to be just fine because the virus appeared to be receding at that point. Right now, we’re starting to see the numbers creep back up. There are hot spots in the state of New York where they are shutting restaurants down again and closing schools. The question is how bad will it get?

Dad reacts to Steelers/Titans game getting POSTPONED. pic.twitter.com/YXaYhcIofm

— Pittsburgh Dad (@Pittsburgh_Dad) October 6, 2020

At this point, over looks like a good option. We’ve had two postponements through four weeks during a time where the pandemic was seemingly receding. As it creeps back into the spotlight, we’ll probably see about two per quarter the rest of the way. That will bring us right around that 10.5-game mark since we’re dealing with a 17-week season. Over would be the lean here.

Will the Super Bowl Be Postponed?

At this point, the feeling is that the Super Bowl won’t be impacted that much. One thing they can do is create a bubble if the virus is back to being a full-blown problem. Remember, the Super Bowl is at a neutral site already and there are two weeks to prepare for the game. They could do a mini-bubble there to protect the players and staff.

From NFL Now: #Patriots QB Cam Newton has not shown COVID-19 symptoms yet (as the CBS broadcast mentioned), but it's still a longshot for him to be cleared and play vs. the #Broncos. I'll explain 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻 pic.twitter.com/Ei4yWT5E5N

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) October 6, 2020

With the Super Bowl simply involving two teams, it’s less likely that it will be impacted than a typical Sunday when 32 teams are active. The over-under prop is more attractive than the Super Bowl date being changed.