NFL planning on full 2020 season, schedule to be released around May 9

While nobody knows anything for certain given the current state of affairs, it certainly sounds like the National Football League is pretty optimistic about how things are going to be in about five months.

In a conference call on Tuesday, league officials stated that they were planning on a full 2020 NFL season, that the season would start on time, and that all of the currently planned international games would go on as scheduled.

The league also announced that they anticipate the 2020 schedule will be released “around May 9.” In the past, the schedule has been released in the weeks leading up to the NFL Draft, but obviously things have been complicated by that this year.

Offseason programs for all 32 teams have not yet been canceled, but have been suspended indefinitely. Free agent “visits” are now all being done virtually, and the NFL Draft. . .which will still be held on schedule starting three weeks from tomorrow. . .will be done virtually as well. The “War Rooms” will be comprised of ten people or less, all following appropriate social distancing guidelines.

As a reminder, here are the teams that the Minnesota Vikings will match up with in 2020:

Home Opponents: Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, Jacksonville Jaguars, Tennessee Titans, Dallas Cowboys

Road Opponents: Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, New Orleans Saints, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, Seattle Seahawks

The Vikings will not be playing in any of the International Series games this season. The London games for this season are set to be “hosted” by the Jacksonville Jaguars (who will play consecutive home games in London for the first time), the Miami Dolphins, and the Atlanta Falcons. The Vikings are slated to play both the Falcons and the Jaguars in 2020, but as you can see above those games are both Vikings home games.

The Arizona Cardinals will be hosting a game in Mexico City, but they’re not on the Vikings’ schedule either.

Again, we don’t know for sure what the 2020 season is going to look like in the National Football League, but they sure do seem to be confident that it will be happening as planned.