It is the talk of the town — and the college sports industry — on Sunday morning: In the Players Tribune, Pac-12 athletes published a set of demands to the conference for rights, worker protections, benefits, and more.
The athletes discussed their reasons for making these demands in a Sports Illustrated piece which has a lot of quotes from specific Pac-12 athletes.
California Golden Bear offensive lineman Valentino Daltoso:
“The coronavirus has put a spotlight on a lot of the injustices in college athletics. The way to affect change and the way to get your voice heard is to affect the bottom line. Our power as players comes from being together. The only way to do this is to do something collectively.”
*snip*
“Talking about Black Lives Matter as a social issue, the wealth gap is such a huge part of it. Guys who come from low-income backgrounds, when they leave to go school they can go back to having nothing. One small group of people are pulling in all the money when it could go to so many communities.”
UCLA defensive back Elisha Guidry:
“We’re trying to empower the lives of our teammates, change their lives and change the trajectory of their families’ lives, especially Black lives. That’s who mostly make up these sports, and are disproportionately affected by the pandemic.”
*snip*
“If you look at history throughout this country, there hasn’t been change without ruffling feathers. Not everybody is going to want change because otherwise it would have happened already. People are going to have strong opinions. You wish you could talk to everybody and have a civil conversation and broaden their perspective. You have to do what you know is the right thing.”
Oregon safety Jevon Holland:
“We’re not your entertainment, we’re human beings. Just like you would help your family, we want to help our mother, father, grandmother, everyone.
“We don’t know the long-term risks. We have no idea how it’s going to affect our body regardless if we show symptoms or not. I refuse to put my health at risk for somebody else’s benefit.”