NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and the heads of every other professional sports league in the United States spoke with President Donald Trump via conference call on Saturday.
The result of the conference call has the NFL planning to move ahead with its annual draft in a little over two weeks via cyberspace with team leadership working from home.
Trump also reportedly told the NFL that he expects the league's schedule to go off on time at the start of September.
Goodell had been considering allowing a small number of front office staff to conduct the draft from team facilities, but after speaking with Trump, the league is now changing course. The idea of conducting the draft remotely had also been on the table.
The NFL will hold its draft April 23-25. But with stay-at-home rules in place across the country due to the coronavirus outbreak, it's just too risky to bring people together in once place. Also at issue for the league is the fact it wants all clubs to be working under the same rules, and some states have more stringent stay-at-home rules than others.
Had team facilities been open, the Steelers were planning on having only president Art Rooney II, head coach Mike Tomlin, general manager Kevin Colbert and perhaps pro scouting coordinator Brandon Hunt, college scouting coordinator Phil Kreidler or vice president of football and business administration Omar Khan in the team's war room.
Instead, the Steelers are expected to continue to conduct business as they have, using teleconferencing and cybermeetings for drafting purposes.
NFL vice president Troy Vincent has invited several prospects to participate "live" in the draft via teleconferencing.
The NFL last month canceled its plans to hold the draft in Las Vegas. Last year's draft in Nashville, Tenn., drew over 600,000 spectators over the three-day event.
LOLLEY'S VIEW
This makes the most sense given the state of things right now. And perhaps it will quiet the outcry that it's "bad optics" for the league to move forward with its draft.
Nobody is going to be put at risk.