Tag: governor

Maryland Governor Wes Moore visits Commanders training camp

He makes it clear that Maryland wants to keep the Commanders.

When the Washington Commanders began training camp last month, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin visited. Youngkin mingled with fans and spoke to the media. His message was clear: Virginia was the best place to live, work, raise a family and build a new NFL stadium for the Commanders.

On Wednesday, it was Maryland Governor Wes Moore’s turn to visit Ashburn for training camp. Moore talked to fans, took pictures and also spoke to the media.

His message: The Commanders should remain in Prince George’s County, Maryland.

“This is a perfect marriage,” Moore said. “The Commanders are an incredibly important and vital part of not just our economy but part of our culture. And so we know this is going to be a championship team going forward; it’s exciting about the new vision that new ownership has in coming on board. And I think it really does correlate and correspond well to how we’re thinking about things in the state of Maryland. So, we are excited for them to be able to build and grow and win in the state of Maryland.”

Before the sale was completed, minority owner Magic Johnson met with Moore sometime in the spring, although it was unclear what was discussed. Moore noted how he’s spoken to the new ownership group.

“Yes, so we’ve already been having sensitive conversations with the new ownership group,” Moore said. “And I think there is a shared vision that isn’t just about creating a winner on the field, but it’s about how we are creating winners off the field. How we are thinking about driving entrepreneurial activity, creating new businesses, making sure there’s transportation assets that can easily experience for people to be able to go to the games and get back from the games. So we’ve already been having sensitive conversations, and I’m excited about where they are, where they’re going and that we have an excited shared future together.”

Moore stated that Maryland was unified in its belief that the “Commanders belong in Prince George’s County.”

Moore again stated: “We want the Commanders in Prince George’s County.”

Is there a timeline? Moore said Maryland is moving now.

Youngkin made his pitch. Moore made his pitch. Will leaders from Washington, D.C., be next to show up for training camp and make their pitch?

Moore made his visit wearing the No. 99 jersey of defensive end Chase Young — a native of P.G. County. You have to credit Moore; he visited Ravens camp this week in Owings Mills in a Lamar Jackson jersey.

Florida Governor DeSantis: ‘We want you guys to be able to play’

DeSantis’ comments came the same day that the Big Ten and Pac-12 announced that they were canceling all sports for the fall 2020 season.

Speaking to the media at Florida State University on Tuesday alongside Seminole players and university President John Thrasher, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he still wants to see football played in Florida this fall despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. He also extended an invitation to schools and conferences whose seasons have been canceled to compete in the state.

DeSantis’ comments came the same day that the Big Ten and Pac-12 announced that they were canceling all sports for the fall 2020 season, with the intent being to postpone them until the spring. DeSantis, however, said he sees value in the sport being played on time.

“We want to make sure that folks know that we value the opportunities for our student-athletes in the state of Florida,” DeSantis said.

“I asked President Thrasher and (FSU football coach Mike Norvell) about, hey, if some of these other conferences shut down, can we welcome their players to the state of Florida?” DeSantis continued. “I’m not exactly sure how the NCAA rules work on that. But I can tell you, if there’s a way, you know, we want you guys to be able to play as well.”

DeSantis said that being with the program during an athletic season would provide more structure to players than if the season were canceled and that they’d be more likely to contract the virus without the restrictions programs would put on them.

“That means the world to so many of our student-athletes,” DeSantis said. “We talked about some of the college players who may not necessarily be (going) pro. There’s a lot of high school players who may not be able to get to college on it, but man, that’s an important part of their development.”

DeSantis’ eagerness to resume sports in the state comes in spite of the fact that Florida is currently one of the states most impacted by COVID-19 with over 500,000 confirmed cases and over 8,000 deaths. Though it will be open in the fall and students will be living on campus, the majority of students will be taking classes online, with about 65 percent of total instruction planned to be conducted online.

Thrasher made the case for playing football this fall, citing the best interests of student-athletes.

“What we frankly want to send is a message to some of the other schools that may be teetering on whether or not to play football,” Thrasher said. “We think it’s in the best interest of our student-athletes for us to play football. We can do it safely. And we can do it productively for them, as well as the absolute culture of our university. And certainly, this community of Tallahassee. We’re ready to do it.”

When asked about the economic impact of not having a season, Thrasher said it would be “significant.”

“Football drives everything else,” Thrasher said. “When you have football, you’re able to support the other sports, the Olympic sports and everything else.”

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis pushes for college sports to play this fall

DeSantis said many student-athletes are safer on campus and in the structured environment that football provides than otherwise.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published at USA TODAY Sports and has been republished in its entirety below. 

With the Mid-American Conference canceling its football season this fall and Big Ten presidents voting against playing in the fall, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is still hopeful that other Power Five conferences will be able to play.

“The Big Ten college presidents may have a little different sense of this. I think the Southeastern Conference, ACC, most of those institutions want to play because I think they see how important it is for the well-being of their student-athletes,” DeSantis said Monday on Fox Sports Radio. “I’m 100 percent in favor of it.”

Speaking with host Clay Travis, DeSantis endorsed the #WeWantToPlay movement, championed by Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence, which calls for the major conferences to take steps to ensure games can be played this fall.

DeSantis said many student-athletes are safer on campus and in the structured environment that football provides than they would be otherwise in regard to coronavirus.

“Very few of the folks in that cohort are becoming seriously ill,” he said. “Just because you test positive, most of these athletes really never actually end up getting ill.”

However, the long-term effects of the novel coronavirus are not fully known. A recent study found about a quarter of young adults were still not back to their normal health weeks after contracting the infection.

DeSantis said he not only wants to see football played on college campuses this fall, but at high schools across Florida as well.

“Keeping kids out of school and denying them the ability, those who want to to play sports, those are going to have long-term ramifications,” he said. “You’ll be dealing with problems I think for society for years and years to come.”

He said he plans to go to a lot of high school games this fall to show his support. Noting that Florida has already conducted a NASCAR race with limited fans in the stands, as well as hosting the NBA’s bubble, DeSantis said the return of sports is important for the country as a whole in getting back to normal.

“You see everybody else is playing — the NBA, Major League Baseball … the PGA (Tour) … soccer is playing — there’s no reason we can’t play high school and college athletics,” he said. “It’s very, very important.”

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