2020 NFL season

The regular season started with the NFL Kickoff Game on September 10, in which defending Super Bowl LIV champion Kansas City defeated Houston.

On March 16, teams were allowed to exercise options for 2020 on players with option clauses in their contracts, submit qualifying offers to their pending restricted free agents, and submit a Minimum Salary Tender to retain exclusive negotiating rights to their players with expiring 2019 contracts and fewer than three accrued seasons of free agent credit.

[69] On April 5, the NFL announced that the draft would be held virtually with coaches and GMs conducting it via phone and internet from home due to team facilities also being closed.

[98] The Pro Football Hall of Fame Game was scheduled for August 6 between Dallas and Pittsburgh, but was canceled on June 25 due to the pandemic.

[109][110] When the entire season schedule was released on May 7, the league announced that in Weeks 15 and 16, two or three of five designated games would be moved to Saturday.

If a COVID-19 outbreak were to force the postponement of playoff games, contingency plans were in place to remove the bye week after the Conference Championships and/or move the Super Bowl back as far as February 28.

Pro Bowl rosters for the 2020 season were released on December 21, and the league held a virtual event to honor the players chosen.

[134] Major changes in the new CBA include:[135] On July 1, following renewed attention to racial justice in wake of the George Floyd protests, a letter signed by 87 shareholders and investors was sent to sponsors of the then-Washington Redskins and NFL including Nike, FedEx, and Pepsi urging them to cut ties unless the team name was changed.

[241] Rhule, who spent the previous seven seasons as college football head coach of Temple and Baylor with a 47–43 (.522) record, was hired on January 7.

In 12+ seasons as the Green Bay Packers head coach, he had a record of 135–85–2 (.613) with nine playoff appearances and one Super Bowl title.

[247][248] Judge was hired on January 8, after serving as the special teams coordinator for the New England Patriots from 2015 to 2019, as well as the wide receivers coach in 2019.

[174] Morris, the team's defensive coordinator, was previously the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, with a record of 17–31 (.354) and no playoff appearances.

[282][283] The NFL initially mandated the use of artificial crowd noise inside all stadiums with attendance below 10,000, consisting of non-dynamic ambience played at 70 decibels.

This includes "cross-flexing" (switching) Sunday afternoon games between CBS and Fox before or during the season, regardless of the conference of the visiting team.

Fox continues to air Thursday Night Football alongside NFL Network, Amazon Prime Video and Twitch.

CBS televised Super Bowl LV in English with ESPN Deportes aired the game in Spanish.

[362] In the United Kingdom, Sky Sports renewed its broadcast rights to the NFL under a five-year deal, marking its 25th season of coverage.

[365] On April 29, Amazon renewed its digital rights to Thursday Night Football through the 2022 season, maintaining the existing arrangement to simulcast the 11 games aired by Fox on Amazon Prime Video and for free on Twitch, and offer alternative broadcasts of the games on the two services.

It also added exclusive worldwide rights to one late-season game for this season, which was produced by CBS and simulcast on over-the-air stations in the two teams' home markets.

[366] This season, the TNF games included a new "Scout's Feed" broadcast featuring extended play analysis by Bucky Brooks and Daniel Jeremiah, and a new "NFL Next Live" feed on Twitch hosted by Cari Champion and Andrew Hawkins which featured viewer interactivity.

[370] To reduce his workload and travel, NBC Sunday Night Football lead commentator Al Michaels took several games off in favor of Mike Tirico.

[287][371] ESPN replaced its former Monday Night Football commentator team of Joe Tessitore and Booger McFarland with Steve Levy, Brian Griese, and Louis Riddick.

Fellow college football announcing duo Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit called the first game of the Week 1 MNF doubleheader.

[373] Herbstreit also worked the ESPN2 Monday Night Megacast broadcast with Rece Davis during the Week 2 MNF game.

After using a homophobic slur during a Cincinnati Reds game, Thom Brennaman was removed from Fox's NFL broadcasts for 2020.

#6 Brock Huard, who was a new addition to Fox's Sunday commentator roster, would move up to the #5 slot with Kevin Kugler to replace Spielman.

Stockton, whose broadcasting resume spanned over five decades, called NFL games for CBS and Fox during his career.

The soundtrack uses crowd audio collected by NFL Films from past games involving the home team, including general ambience, team-specific chants, and contextual reactions.

[379] Fox introduced such a system on-air for its Major League Baseball broadcasts,[380] and later announced that it would use the technology for selected NFL games.

NBC added a 180-degree 8K resolution camera to the Skycam unit for "intimate" overhead views, supplanting wide-angle shots that would expose stands with little to no spectators.