Football players in the Pac-12 feel they’re not being treated fairly by the conference and NCAA when it comes to critical issues, like health and safety during the COVID-19 pandemic and economic freedom, particularly related to the use of their names, images and likenesses. They also want the Pac-12 to address racial injustice in college sports and for leaders to protect the existence of some sports over the depths of their paychecks.
And if they don’t get what they want, they’re going to opt out of the season, they explained in an entry in The Players’ Tribune published Sunday with a byline that simply read: Players of the Pac-12.
In a news release Sunday, via ESPN, 12 athletes identified themselves as representing “hundreds of Pac-12 football players.”
Written with the theme of #WeAreUnited, they demand fair and reasonable treatment ranging from COVID-19 protections — safety wise as well as not losing a year of eligibility for opting out — to a 50-50 revenue share for athletes. They also ask for six-year scholarships “to foster undergraduate and graduate degree completion.”
They wrote, in part, in The Players’ Tribune:
To ensure future generations of college athletes will be treated fairly, #WeAreUnited.
Because NCAA sports exploit college athletes physically, economically and academically, and also disproportionately harm Black college athletes, #WeAreUnited.
In rejecting the NCAA’s claim that #BlackLivesMatter while also systematically exploiting Black athletes nationwide, #WeAreUnited.
Because we are being asked to play college sports in a pandemic in a system without enforced health and safety standards, and without transparency about COVID cases on our teams, the risks to ourselves, our families, and our communities, #WeAreUnited.
Because we must have adequate COVID testing to help protect our health, #WeAreUnited.
Because we are prohibited from securing representation while being asked to sign documents that may serve as liability waivers, #WeAreUnited.
And before listing their demands, they continued:
Because the NCAA has failed us and we are prepared to ensure that our conference treats us fairly whether or not it continues its NCAA membership, #WeAreUnited.
In forming alliances with college athletes from other conferences to unite with us for change, #WeAreUnited.
#WeAreUnited in our commitment to secure fair treatment for college athletes. Due to COVID-19 and other serious concerns, we will opt-out of Pac-12 fall camp and game participation unless the following demands are guaranteed in writing by our conference to protect and benefit both scholarship athletes and walk-ons.
Those demands include:
- A third party enforcing player-approved health and safety standards regarding the novel coronavirus
- A permanent civic-engagement task force “made up of our leaders, experts of our choice, and university and conference administrators to address outstanding issues such as racial injustice in college sports and in society”
- 2 percent of conference revenue serving as financial aid for low-income Black students, as well as benefitting community programs for athletes on each campus
- The ability to hire representation and earn money off their own name, image and likeness
- Medical insurance for sports-related issues, including COVID-19, for six years after their NCAA eligibility ends
They call out the NCAA’s archaic rules preventing players, the vast majority of which will not play their sports professionally, from financially capitalizing on “the most valuable years of our lives” while generating revenue for everyone else.
They also want to eliminate “lavish salaries and facility expenditures” — and specifically call for Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott to “drastically reduce [his and administrators’] excessive pay” — in order to prioritize sports that have been cut. Specifically, they cite Stanford cutting 11 varsity sports and argue the school should dip into its $27.7 billion endowment to reinstate them.
Now, the NCAA and Pac-12 surely aren’t automatically going to give into the demands of athletes it insists are amateurs. And in a statement Sunday, the conference offered a statement that, unsurprisingly, leaves much to be desired. Via ESPN:
“Neither the Conference nor our university athletics departments have been contacted by this group regarding these topics,” a Pac-12 statement said. “We support our student-athletes using their voice and have regular communications with our student-athletes at many different levels on a range of topics. As we have clearly stated with respect to our fall competition plans, we are, and always will be, directed by medical experts, with the health, safety and well being of our student athletes, coaches and staff always the first priority. We have made it clear that any student athlete who chooses not to return to competition for health or safety reasons will have their scholarship protected.”
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Pac-12 previously announced it will play a conference-only schedule for the 2020 season, and Friday, it announced its schedule with the first games planned for September 26.
Read the full Players’ Tribune entry here.
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