Tag: #WeAreUnited

One athlete’s view of #WeAreUnited: defining real progress

The conclusion of this series with Arizona State’s Cody Shear

The Pac-12 and the #WeAreUnited athletes were reportedly going to have a second meeting this week after their initial meeting Thursday night. This is subject to change, but at press time, it remains on the calendar for the league and the athletes.

As we conclude this series featuring the views of Arizona State offensive lineman Cody Shear, we present his thoughts on what meaningful progress looks like. This view of progress is connected to a hypothetical in which the league and #WeAreUnited don’t make significant gains in the next month. What will happen if stagnation defines these talks in the middle of September? What changes then?

This is what Cody Shear had to say:

“With no meaningful progress, that’s going to be an issue, to say the least, as far as the Pac-12 players are concerned. There are a lot of players already opting out of playing. I can’t speak for all the players in this sense, but I will say there’s a lot of different variables that go into this decision-making process. 

“There are a lot of guys who have the aspirations and the talent to go to the NFL. They might have one season left to play and go on to the NFL, but on the other hand there are a lot of us players that might not be a senior or a lot of players who might not make it to the NFL, and in college football, the time’s ticking. But as you know and as fans know as well as players do in this sense, there’s a lot of moving objects, and it’s hard to decide whether this 10-game schedule is legit…

“We know, being in Arizona, yes, it is a hot spot. Playing four games ruins a redshirt year for a football player. You’re talking to a bunch of college athletes who love football who might not have too much time left. They could potentially risk having their last season in college football cut short after just four games and never getting to put a helmet on again. It definitely makes you think twice and I think the players are recognizing that.”

*snip*

“It really comes down to what the players decide together — this starts and ends with the players. The players want to get together and have meetings directly with the Pac-12 and bring representatives from each team to talk with the Pac-12 and have these tough conversations. It’s gonna come down to knowing it when they see it (in terms of defining real progress) for a lot of these guys that are on the fence whether they’re playing or not. It’s gonna be another big conversation when the Pac-12 does get back to us. The ball is in the Pac-12’s court. Right now the players have released their statement and it’s a waiting game to see what they (the Pac-12) counter with.”

One athlete’s view of #WeAreUnited: negotiation tactics

More from Cody Shear of Arizona State.

The college football season is in great danger of being postponed and, at a later point, canceled. That decision hasn’t come down yet, however, so while we exist in limbo, it is still very much worth sharing the thoughts of athletes connected to the #WeAreUnited movement.

I had the chance to talk to Arizona State offensive lineman Cody Shear a week ago. He touched on many subjects. One of them was the negotiating tactics athletes were thinking about bringing to the discussion table with Larry Scott and the Pac-12. The two sides met late Thursday night. They didn’t make a lot of progress, but that was to be expected. The mere fact they met at all was significant in itself.

Here is what Cody Shear had to say about handling negotiations:

“This all started by the Pac-12 players forming together and uniting and becoming one. In order to do that we had to agree on these statements we wanted to put forward to the Pac-12. In a perfect world, we obviously get every demand that’s listed… but is this a perfect world? No. Are we aware of that? 100 percent.

“I don’t know that necessarily means a lot of players are going to be happy if the NCAA or the Pac-12 specifically fall short in meeting us in these demands we’ve sent out, but the NCAA and the Pac-12 are a business. It’s run by money. In the business world, people are going to negotiate and make business decisions. It’s time the NCAA and the conferences are able to make business decisions with the student athletes instead of making all the decisions for us.

“If people can have their own opinion and say we’re coming in too high, that is perfectly okay… If you want to talk about compensation, we’re making business decisions now. A lot of the guys that feel empowered and want to speak up about the revenue share, the Pac-12 is going to have to work with the players in this situation, because a lot of these players are treating this like a business decision. We take a lot of flack for doing that, but in the business world, which this is, that’s what people do in the first place.”

One athlete’s view of #WeAreUnited: the family angle

Cody Shear of Arizona State

I talked to one of the members of the #WeAreUnited movement, Arizona State offensive lineman Cody Shear, a week ago. Cody addressed several different topics, more than what would fit in one article.

In this particular piece, read what Cody Shear had to say about the reasons athletes are considering opting out of football and why they wanted to exert pressure on the Pac-12 and the larger college football industry:

“The number one thing a lot of people want to talk about is opting out of football. That’s what a lot of people might not understand: Not everyone involved in this movement is guaranteeing that they’re opting out of football. We’re Pac-12 players, we’re playing football for a reason — that’s what we do. But at the same time, we expect the NCAA can work with us on some of the issues we have put in front of them.

“Right now I think it’s really important for guys to do what they want to do… a lot of fans, people maybe on the outside of college football, will look at a player and tell them why they should or shouldn’t play. A lot of what people don’t realize is that some of these players have wives, girlfriends, little kids at home. On the other side of things, they have families that might have some underlying health issues, so yes, although we are healthy players in our college years, that doesn’t necessarily mean that everyone surrounding us is healthy as well.

“Some players are already opting out of playing, and some players are trying to decide whether they feel comfortable playing or not, and some players are all for playing, they just want to see this progress in the right direction. So that’s probably the number one thing where you’ll see a little bit of a divide in the decision making of student athletes.”

The Pac-12 candidly gives away the game in #WeAreUnited talks

Give the Pac-12 credit for being honest; now let’s see if that becomes a turning point for athletes.

Thursday night — 51 days before the scheduled start of the 2020 Pac-12 football season — representatives of the #WeAreUnited movement among Pac-12 athletes had a two-hour discussion with conference leaders, including commissioner Larry Scott. The discussion focused mostly on health and safety protocols, making sure that if games are played, the health of the athletes comes first.

This is the particular aspect of a large-scale (and multi-pronged) discussion in which there is natural agreement between the athletes and the conference. Guidelines, protocols, independent medical evaluators, and other components of a transparent, objective and accountable health monitoring system — with testing provisions and other practices designed to maximize player safety — have been worked on by the Pac-12. In that regard, the conference has not been slow or unresponsive in its attempt to address the concerns of athletes. The league deserves credit for that.

No one who follows the Pac-12 — and who has therefore monitored this story over the past several weeks — is living under the illusion that the #WeAreUnited campaign’s demand for a 50-percent revenue share, or its other big economic demands, would become the main centerpiece of negotiations. It was always going to be health and safety first, then the questions surrounding collegiate eligibility, redshirt guidelines, scholarship status, and similar issues.

The 50-percent revenue share is not going to gain traction in the near term. Thursday night’s discussion indicated as much, with the conference essentially telling the athletes a polite and firm no.

Yet, real news was made on this front, even as the league and the athletes made real progress on health and safety provisions and procedures.

Though the 50-percent revenue share was shot down by the Pac-12 Thursday night, the direct and straightforward way in which the league expressed itself was noteworthy.

According to reports, the league told the athletes that Pac-12 schools do not support the revenue-share proposal because it would create a “path to the student athletes becoming employees.”

There is nothing wrong with thinking the Pac-12 athletes’ demands on the 50-percent revenue share are unreasonable. Purely as a matter of political analysis, nearly everyone in the college sports industry would in fact agree that this won’t ever happen.

Yet, can we appreciate the point that Pac-12 athletes were focused on something more than raw numbers or percentages? They wanted to be involved in a discussion, and they wanted to drive a discussion.

After Thursday night’s talk, they have already done both things.

The Pac-12 admitting that “student athletes becoming employees” is the basis for opposing a 50-percent revenue share is already a win for the athletes. They have gotten a Power Five conference to concede that preservation of “amateur status” is a central aim, and that allowing athletes to be considered employees is something the Pac-12 wants to avoid.

Again: There’s no way the Pac-12 will agree to the 50-percent revenue share. That hasn’t changed, and it won’t change… but again, that’s not the entire point or purpose of the athletes’ demands. They are changing the conversation as we speak, for one thing. Extracting a frank acknowledgment from league officials about their reasoning and their thought process opens the door to future discussions.

No, of course these topics won’t be resolved in 50 days. They won’t be resolved in 500 days, either. That’s not the point. The point is that athletes more clearly know where the Pac-12 — and by extension, the NCAA — stands.

Given that we are in a pandemic, and that college football is asking players to play in a pandemic, the Pac-12 athletes — who are surely being watched by athletes in other conferences — have a chance to say in future meetings with Larry Scott that they are being viewed as essential workers by the conference and by college football at large.

If athletes are being asked to play in a pandemic, that certainly flows into a view that they are not only workers, but ESSENTIAL workers. If college football players are this important to balance sheets and budgets at schools across the country, a reasonable person would conclude that is “essential” work.

This gives players an avenue to say — very simply and very reasonably — that they deserve hazard pay and other tangible benefits in exchange for playing in a pandemic.

The Pac-12 admitted why it opposes the 50-percent revenue share. The #WeAreUnited athletes won’t ever get that 50-percent revenue share… but they HAVE moved the conversation forward. That is an achievement in and of itself.

#WeAreUnited talks with the Pac-12: Let’s see how it plays out

This is just the beginning

It happened.

Members of the #WeAreUnited campaign among Pac-12 athletes talked to Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott, assistant commissioner Chris Merino, athletic directors Mark Harlan of Utah and Ray Anderson of Arizona State. The two-hour discussion took place Thursday night, a landmark moment in the history of college sports.

Though college athletes do not currently have a union or any formal structure of representation, the fact that they were able to discuss working conditions and the terms of their status as collegiate athletes with conference officials marks a new moment for the college sports industry.

To be very clear, the significance of this moment is less about the amount of progress made, or the specific details the athletes and the Pac-12 discussed. What is most important about this moment is merely that it took place at all.

In a year and a collection of circumstances which are genuinely unprecedented in American history — it’s not that we have a pandemic (that isn’t unprecedented), but that the pandemic has disrupted a billion-dollar athletic-industrial superstructure — athletes recognized that the time was ripe to have a place at the table.

Thursday night, they received it. That’s the big story here.

Of course, we will all be interested in how these discussions continue. No second meeting has been set up yet, but it is expected that a follow-up meeting will happen before too long.

The Pac-12 might be very resistant to the #WeAreUnited athletes on several fronts; in fact, Thursday night’s meeting affirmed that precise point. The conference pushed back against the Pac-12 athletes’ 50-percent revenue share proposal, with the executives telling the athletes the plan was “not something the schools were supportive of.”

The meeting focused on the health and safety piece of the #WeAreUnited campaign’s demands.

Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News reported that when a second meeting occurs, these will be the main points of focus:

“— Updates on the recommendations from the medical advisory committee about safety protocols for the next phase.

“— How the schools will treat players who opt out of the season over concerns about coronavirus.

“— Eligibility extensions for players who opt out.

“— Making sure none of the schools ask players to sign Covid-19 liability waivers.”

You very probably have an opinion on the politics of this larger situation — there’s nothing wrong with that. Just keep in mind how new and unprecedented this situation is. The simple fact that this discussion ever took place is the biggest takeaway. Let’s see where this goes, allowing for many bumps and detours along the way.

Though we are naturally interested in whether the Pac-12 football season starts on Sept. 26, and whether the college football season will get off the ground, the bigger question is where this will lead college sports in the next two, five, or 10 years.

That story is only beginning to be written. Let’s see how it all plays out.

One athlete’s view of #WeAreUnited: post-career health insurance

Cody Shear of Arizona State speaks about his uncle, Tim Shear.

The aspect of the #WeAreUnited campaign among Pac-12 athletes which has near-universal support from the public — and journalists, and outside commentators — is the need for health-care protections to be given to college football players and any other athletes being asked to play in a pandemic.

I talked to Arizona State offensive lineman Cody Shear for nearly half an hour this past Sunday. This is personal for Cody, as you can see here below:

As far as the post-career health insurance, that felt like something I needed to step forward and talk about. My uncle (Tim Shear) played football for the University of Oregon in the Pac-10 back then in the late ’90s — 1998 through 2001. Coming out of high school he was one of the highest-recruited linebackers in the country. He had offers all over, he could have gone to school wherever he wanted to; he chose the University of Oregon. He definitely had the talent and the aspirations to go to the NFL.

“Unfortunately his career was cut short due to excessive concussions, multiple concussions. Instead of potentially using his skills to get to the next level and getting the NFL check that everyone dreams of, his career was cut short. He was stuck with insurance bills and covering medical expenses by himself. He still has to live with concussion-related injuries to this day. If he gets one more the doctors told him… it could be extremely dangerous to him. He’s got three little girls and a wife at home. I just think that’s something that hit me and made me want to step forward and talk about this.”

Plenty of people will have debates and especially strong disagreements about the economic dimensions of the Pac-12 athletes’ demands toward the conference and the NCAA, but you won’t hear much of any opposition — certainly not fierce or vocal resistance — to the idea that athletes need to be given expansive care at no cost to them or their families.

One athlete’s view of #WeAreUnited: racial justice

Cody Shear of Arizona State offers his unique perspective.

The #WeAreUnited movement has sparked a lot of conversation about the various goals of the Pac-12 athletes who launched the campaign. Economic benefits and health protections are two significant components of the movement. Seeking racial justice is also part of the mix.

I asked Arizona State offensive lineman Cody Shear — as part of a longer conversation — to elaborate on why seeking racial justice is part of the Pac-12 athletes’ demands.

This is what Cody had to say:

“That is something that really hits home because I play for coach Herm Edwards. The majority of my coaches at Arizona State are African-American coaches, and if you look at college football as a whole, the majority of players are African-American. But unfortunately, that’s not very common at a lot of different programs to have a Black head coach. That should be something which is more normalized especially in this day and age… Every single day we’re watching it on the news. I think it can be really, really good for the players to come together and teams to come together and go to bat for each other, not the just African-American kids standing up for Black Lives Matter, not just little groups. Everyone needs to come together as a whole. That can be a good step in the right direction.”

Later in the conversation, Shear added this set of insights on racial justice:

“This is definitely something that could potentially start in the realm of college football and branch out into the real world. Playing for Coach Edwards, we’re able to have real conversations with him like this. He talks to our team all the time and lets us know this is just the reality that we live in. Racial injustice is still very much an issue and it continues to be an issue. Phoenix is a large area; some players here in Tempe have faced racial slurs and seen systemic racism just within the restaurants that they go to and the people that surround them — the fact that’s happening today, that has to stop. It’s something people are talking a lot more about now, especially with everything that’s been going on in this country, but unfortunately I don’t think everyone has opened their eyes to it or put their best foot forward. It’s something some people accept and they say “Things are getting better, that’s a good thing,” and that’s all they can do about it. I think that’s wrong. I think college football players, we have a big platform. If we go out on a limb to stand up for what’s right and stand up for our teammates…

“You see African-American collegiate athletes, they’re standing up for themselves… but you don’t necessarily see, consistently, a lot of the non-African-American athletes standing up for their teammates. That doesn’t necessarily mean they’re racist and they’re trying to be socially unjust… but that isn’t right. If we can flip the script and have it be normalized for teams to come together and stand up for one another, I think that can be a really big movement on and off the field.”

One athlete’s view of #WeAreUnited: The big-picture vision

Cody Shear of Arizona State speaks up.

This past Sunday, I was able to talk to Arizona State offensive lineman Cody Shear about the #WeAreUnited movement among Pac-12 athletes to get better protections, benefits, and overall recognition in the context of the pandemic and Black Lives Matter protests. You can listen to the full conversation here, but I am going to excerpt different portions of Shear’s insights on various issues so that they can be laid out in print.

You can judge for yourself.

Let’s start with the big picture. I gave Cody Shear a chance to offer some general remarks on how the #WeAreUnited movement came into being:

“The We Are United campaign is really something which has resonated, and something players have talked about doing for a long time now. We have been in communication with NFL players, former college players who have all agreed they’re extremely supportive of the movement… It’s been a topic a lot of past players have thought about but maybe not had the platform or opportunity to step forward and make those demands or questions to the conference…

“With everything that’s been going on as far as the pandemic and the racial injustice issues, unfortunately it took some crazy events like that in order for the players to feel they had the platform to raise their voice and put their best foot forward.”

After roughly 25 minutes of conversation, I asked Shear if there was anything else he wanted to add, in order to make sure his points of emphasis were fully conveyed. This is what he said:

“I think it’s really important the audience knows that this has nothing to do with the coaches. I think a lot of people have a pretty good grasp of that and understand that, but I think some people are getting it twisted, saying we’re trying to take money away from other sports programs when we talk about the revenue share, or take money away from coaches. That has nothing to do with it — this is directly between the players and the Pac-12. We fully support our universities and our coaches. We’re glad in most cases we have their support as well. That’s basically what I want to end this with.”

Pac-12 athletes deserve vigorous questioning… and empathy

Balancing two different needs

I was interviewed on a Zoom-Periscope show based in South Carolina on Wednesday afternoon.

@JBandGoldwater asked me a lot of thoughtful and interesting questions on their Wednesday show. The main topic of conversation was — as you could well imagine — the #WeAreUnited movement among Pac-12 athletes for better protections and benefits in a pandemic, plus progress on racial justice.

Links to the show can be found below:

If you watch or listen to the show, this next point will become apparent, but life is busy, so if you don’t have time to listen to the show, I can summarize the conversation here: The hosts asked tough questions.

I’m glad they did.

We are here to attempt to solve problems or, at the very least, make sense of a complicated and emotionally potent situation.

One of the main points I made in this discussion was to emphasize that athletes are still — in some cases — looking for the exact right words to express their needs and concerns. Some have an extremely defined sense of what they want to achieve, but not all of them do… because they’re not political professionals. These young athletes are not paid to organize political campaigns. They are students and athletes. They are 18 to 21 years old. This is likely their first big foray into the national spotlight and the world of activism.

They are not experienced veterans. They are new to this realm of activity.

Athletes do not deserve a pass on these questions. They should indeed have to answer tough inquiries on why they are doing what they’re doing, and what their ultimate plans and goals are.

One thing which is easy to overlook about journalism is that tough questioning does not necessarily reflect hostility on the part of the interviewer toward the person being interviewed. In many cases (though certainly not all), a tough line of questioning from an interviewer can be the best way for an activist to express him/herself and make a movement look good.

If an activist can hold up under tough questioning, that tells everyone watching or listening that the movement has a well-defined goal and a level of astuteness everyone can respect.

@JBandGoldwater asked tough questions — that makes for a good conversation and a grown-up attempt to define what the #WeAreUnited athletes are doing here.

Is this a perfectly-calibrated, expertly-conveyed set of demands? No… but as I have said before, perfection — political brilliance — should not be our expectation of these athletes. Respecting their position — chiefly, wanting to be safe and cared for in a pandemic — should be paramount.

That doesn’t transcend the need to question these athletes; it should accompany the need to question them. The need to show empathy and understanding exists co-equally with the need to offer tough questions. Those needs exist on the same plane.

My thanks to @JBandGoldwater for demonstrating that in our conversation.

Larry Scott, Pac-12 leaders offer to talk to #WeAreUnited athletes

A bombshell development.

Anyone who felt the Pac-12 athletes of #WeAreUnited had overplayed their hand or had bungled their initial statement need to step back and reconsider.

Per Ross Dellenger of Sports Illustrated, Larry Scott sent an e-mail Wednesday night to the #WeAreUnited group, proposing a Zoom call at 8 p.m. Pacific time on Thursday night to discuss the demands made by Pac-12 athletes.

One would certainly assume the athletes will accept the invitation and participate in the call. Dellenger reported the following as well:

“The proposed call would include Scott, ASU athletic director Ray Anderson, Utah athletic director Mark Harlan and Pac-12 assistant commissioner Chris Merino, the league’s liaison to student-athlete groups.”

A portion of Scott’s e-mail to the #WeAreUnited athletes contained the following notes:

“I wanted to share with you in advance of our call some background materials—including an announcement made by the NCAA Board of Governors earlier today (Wednesday)—that I believe are directly responsive to some of the topics and concerns that you have raised, and that will help inform our initial conversation.”

Dellenger wrote that Scott will offer more details on health and safety guidelines in the Thursday call, should it happen.

I recently talked to Arizona State offensive lineman Cody Shear, one of the media contacts for the #WeAreUnited group, about Sunday’s letter in the Players Tribune and what it means for this movement among Pac-12 athletes. I will post portions of the conversation I had with him on Thursday here at Trojans Wire. Without giving away too much of that interview — you will get direct quotes on Thursday in a series of posts — a central point Cody Shear wanted to make is that he and his fellow athletes wanted a place at the table, a chance to negotiate with the Pac-12 and the power brokers in college sports.

That is a central goal of #WeAreUnited, and I don’t think anyone can reasonably dispute that.

Assuming this call does happen Thursday night, the Pac-12 athletes will have already achieved a fundamental goal. One can only wonder how much the landscape of college sports will change in the months and years ahead.