NFL's pandemic contingency plan would pit the Super Bowl vs. the Oscars on Feb. 28

Deadline

When the NFL releases its 2020 schedule tonight, it will have Feb. 7 pegged for Super Bowl LV. But the schedule will also contain a contigency plan in response to the coronavirus that would have the season kick off as late as Oct. 15 -- six weeks later than usual -- with the Super Bowl moving to Sunday, Feb. 28, 2021. The problem with Feb. 28 is that it's also the same date that the 93rd annual Academy Awards. "Arrrrgh! Can the NFL actually do an end run around the Oscars and touch down on a date the Academy has already staked out?" says Deadline Oscars columnist Pete Hammond. "In the weirdest of all circumstances, can the largely female appeal (according to advertisers) Oscar show go directly against the Holy Grail of television events, the largely male appeal (but really everyone in America if you look at ratings) Super Bowl? I will take a large bet and say, uh, no. ABC, which spends heavily to broadcast the Oscars, would never allow it. Since I doubt the brawny NFL isn’t really worried about taking a ratings hit for the Super Bowl — a happening so large some would like a national holiday declared for the day after just for the country to recover from the excitement — what fool would try to program against it? You can bet it would be up to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to blink and find a new date for Oscar."