Friday, September 14, 2001

NFL to suspend weekend’s 15 games during time of tragedy
By Dave Goldberg
ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK — The NFL will not play its 15 games this weekend following the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. It said it was undecided whether to reschedule the games or go with a 15-game season.

“We in the National Football league have decided that our priorities for this weekend are to pause, grieve and reflect,” commissioner Paul Tagliabue said in a statement. “It is a time to tend to families and neighbors and all those wounded by these horrific acts of terrorism.”

The postponement was the first for non-strike reasons by the NFL, which played two days after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on Nov. 22, 1963.

Commissioner Pete Rozelle said that was the worst decision he made in 29 years in the job. Tagliabue spent Thursday morning on a conference call with team owners to discuss the options. Afterward, he said: “A decision on whether to reschedule this weekend’s games or play a 15-game season schedule is under consideration and will be announced as soon as possible.”

League spokesman Greg Aiello said there were several reasons involved, including the logistics of air travel and the trauma to the New York Giants and Jets and the Washington Redskins, “who are at Ground Zero.”

Players from those teams and many others have been saying that they haven’t been able to concentrate on football while television was replaying the disaster tapes and showing workers digging for victims.