The locker room interview is one of the best aspects of media relations and football. We have witnessed many players and coaches engage in witty and sarcastic exchanges with journalists over the years that provided plenty of memorable and juicy content.
The NFL’s COVID protocols forced the media to have to interact with players through Zoom meetings, thus preventing that same level of authenticity in interviews from happening on a more frequent basis. The NFL has decided to lift that ban and allow journalists into the locker rooms at the start of the next season.
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Brian McCarthy, the NFL spokesperson made the announcement Tuesday during the annual NFL owners meetings in Palm Beach. For the 2021-2022 seasons, media personnel who had been fully vaccinated were not allowed to go into locker rooms. Now, it doesn’t matter if you are vaccinated and interviews can continue as normal.
This change is just one month following the NFL’s announcement that all COVID regulations would be dropped for NFL personnel. However, media restrictions were in effect at the time. The NFL is now able to remove all traces of non-sensical protocol they have held on too long.