In what can be seen as a significant step in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, two franchises that call a major market home are reopening their facilities.
The New York Giants and New York Jets resumed operations at their headquarters Wednesday in a limited capacity, NFL Network's Kimberly Jones reported. A "small number of employees" returned to the Giants' facility, Jones added.
The Buffalo Bills, the only NFL team to play and train in New York State, also confirmed to NFL.com that their facility opened this week to "a limited number of staff members, per local county/NFL regulations."
New York and New Jersey are among the states affected most by the pandemic, resulting in more stringent restrictions. While the NFL allowed teams to reopen beginning on May 19, New Jersey governor Phil Murphy didn't permit professional sports teams residing in the state to return to their facilities until an announcement made on May 26. With that announcement, the Giants and Jets were able to work toward establishing plans for reopening, which commenced Wednesday. New York governor Andrew Cuomo made a similar announcement in mid-May regarding the Bills.
The league on Tuesday informed all 32 of its clubs that training camp will only be permitted at team facilities this season, unless a "club can demonstrate, to the satisfaction of a joint NFL-NFLPA medical task force, that it would not be feasible to conduct at their club facility."