Lines for the Week 4 matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Tennessee Titans have been taken off the board at various sportsbooks upon news of nine Tennessee players and staff members testing positive for COVID-19.
The matchup, which was originally scheduled to take place Sunday at 1 p.m. ET at the Titans’ home stadium in Nashville, Tennessee, has officially been postponed. As it stands, the game will now be rescheduled for later on in the season.
If you have already bet on this game or intend to do so, keep an eye out for new lines to be posted in the coming days.
Details leading up to the Titans’ postponed game
In-person team activities were suspended for the Titans and Minnesota Vikings after several COVID-19 tests came back positive for Tennessee proceeding their game this past Sunday.
Three Titans players and five of their staff members initially tested positive. An additional Titans player has tested positive since then. There has yet to be a Vikings players or staff members to test positive.
The NFL’s decision to postpone the Week 4 Titans game will provide Tennessee with the chance to weed out any other players that might have contracted the virus.
With their practice facilities currently closed, the Titans are operating on a virtual basis for training.
This is the first scheduled NFL game to be postponed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Vikings have announced plans to reopen their practice facility on Thursday with strict guidelines in place. There has been no word as to whether their Sunday game against the Houston Texans will be rescheduled.
What a postponed event means for Titans bets
Sports betting is not currently live in Tennessee. Instead, some bettors travel to Mississippi to place bets at retail books or bet online elsewhere. If you have already placed a bet on the game, you’re probably wondering how this announcement affects your wagers.
By now, your bet has probably already been returned by the sportsbook. However, each sportsbook’s rules on postponed games differ.
For instance, FanDuel will only refund a postponed football game if it occurs later than the next Wednesday after the originally scheduled date. Therefore, bets on this game will be refunded by the operator.
BetMGM has a similar policy to FanDuel. Football games must be held within one week of the originally scheduled date and location in order for the bet to be considered action.
In the case of DraftKings, an event is declared void and bets are cancelled if the game does not begin within 12 hours of its initially issued start time. DraftKings will issue a refund for all cancelled bets.
As far as daily fantasy goes, points will not be counted toward Steelers and Titans players’ Week 4 scores since they will not be playing this week.
With 3-0 records for the 2020 season, the Titans and Steelers both sit at the top of their respective divisions. The Steelers were two-point favorites going into Week 4’s contest before lines were pulled.
Betting is now expected to open on this game later in the season. Until then, we’ll have to patiently await lines on the Titans’ Week 5 matchup against the Buffalo Bills.