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N.F.L. team owners and the players’ union, chastened by the spread of the coronavirus and mindful of other professional leagues’ struggles to return to play, are considering playing the 2020 regular season with few or no fans in attendance and are actively discussing how to absorb lost revenue potentially worth billions, according to three people briefed on the discussions who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to discuss the matter publicly.
The owners, who spoke by conference call as recently as Tuesday, are weighing with the union how to spread out the losses over several years by lowering the salary cap, which governs how much teams can spend on player salaries.