The Pro Football Hall of Fame has canceled the NFL’s preseason-opening game next month between the Dallas Cowboys and Pittsburgh Steelers and will postpone its annual enshrinement ceremony league sources told ESPN.
The Hall of Fame Game, originally scheduled for Aug. 6 in Canton, Ohio, marks the first event on the NFL calendar canceled because of the pandemic. The league was able to conduct free agency as well as the NFL draft, albeit in a virtual realm as face-to-face visits with free agents and prospective draft picks was prohibited.
The Cowboys and Steelers are now expected to play in the 2021 Hall of Fame Game, sources said, and the enshrinement ceremony — originally slated for Aug. 8 — also is expected to be held next year.
The game’s cancellation is anticipated to affect when the Cowboys and Steelers report to training camp. The Cowboys and Steelers were preparing to be the first two teams to report to camp in about a month but now are likely to report with the rest of the league’s teams.
The majority of teams are scheduled to report to training camp July 28, but there has been no definitive word from the NFL about whether that will happen. This is a topic that is expected to be addressed in Thursday’s conference call with NFL owners, sources said.