Report: NFL denied Patriots’ request for more locker room space at Arrowhead
There’s been no escaping COVID-19 news in the NFL over the past week.
An outbreak among the Tennessee Titans caused a postponement of their game against the Steelers in Week 4 and caused the upcoming schedule to be scrambled, moving the Chiefs-Bills game from Thursday to Oct. 18.
Also, New England quarterback Cam Newton’s positive COVID-19 test pushed the Chiefs’ Week 4 game against the Patriots back one day to Monday.
When the Patriots arrived at Arrowhead Stadium earlier this week, they reportedly asked for more space than just the visitor’s locker room, per a Pro Football Talk report.
That story says the locker room space for the Patriots was an estimated 1,000 square feet, but the NFL denied New England’s request for more room. For NFL players, coaches, trainers, and others, the 1,000-foot space would seemingly make it difficult to maintain a 6-foot space between people, one of the guidelines during the pandemic.
CBS Boston reported the Patriots flew to Kansas City in two planes, with one carrying people who had been in close contact with Newton, who had tested positive for COVID-19 late last week.
Two days after the Chiefs’ 26-10 win over the Patriots, another New England player tested positive for COVID-19: cornerback Stephon Gilmore.
“Gilmore had traveled in the plane carrying close contacts of Newton, an effort of separation that was seemingly rendered moot when he was cramped inside a very small visiting locker room in a game that the NFL refused to postpone for longer than a day,” CBS’ Michael Hurley wrote.
Phil Perry of NBC Sports Boston tweeted about the space in the visitor’s locker room when he retweeted Pro Football Talk:
