PAC 12 Players Unity Group

[Auggie]

#WeAreUnited | By Players of the Pac-12

#WeAreUnited in our commitment to secure fair treatment for college athletes.

www.theplayerstribune.com

The basics:

- Want a greater say in the working conditions during the Covid-19 times.
- Want to preserve all sports offered by a school.
- Want to end racial injustice in College Sports.
- Want a new economic model that is fairer to the athletes.


Many think this is the beginning of the end to college sports as we know it because the athletes have finally recognized they have more power than the adults lead on to. A lot of the big name players in the conference are on board and the point that coaches are threatening players about being a part of this group means they are scared that their cash cow may be coming to an end. And don't think this will not spread to other conferences as it appears alumni in the NFL may be helping these guys out. No college football will be a serious threat to many of these schools athletic budgets and I could see the schools caving in to some of these demands. Stay tuned for more...

 

[nwwarrior09]

Washington State is getting their chops busted on social media over rumors that they're cutting football players that are active supporters of the group. There seems to be some confusion over whether or not that's the case, or whether they're just kicking guys who are opting out of the season out of their facilities.

 

[EagleGuy]

Okay. The devil will be in the details.

 

[Omar]

They should probably learn the difference bw Revenue & profit. Their other demands aren’t unreasonable, but you can’t continue these sports that lose $ and pay the players in the sports that make $. It’s one or the other.

 

[Auggie]

They should probably learn the difference bw Revenue & profit. Their other demands aren’t unreasonable, but you can’t continue these sports that lose $ and pay the players in the sports that make $. It’s one or the other.

They are looking for the schools to take a hair cut in a couple places, notably admin personnel and performance bonuses tied to how the team/individuals perform plus a re-evaluation on facility expenditures. Some other former athletes like Jay Bilas think additional savings could be had be eliminating the bloated bureaucracy in governing boards like the NCAA, bowls, and the various conferences.

 

[Omar]

They are looking for the schools to take a hair cut in a couple places, notably admin personnel and performance bonuses tied to how the team/individuals perform plus a re-evaluation on facility expenditures. Some other former athletes like Jay Bilas think additional savings could be had be eliminating the bloated bureaucracy in governing boards like the NCAA, bowls, and the various conferences.

But they want 50% of the rev from their sport. Where does that leave every other sport that loses $? Also, now they want to eliminate “elaborate” facilities AFTER their school made those updates. Kiss my a**.

 

[Omar]

The safety precautions and extended scholarship life are reasonable. But they can pound sand of Revenue sharing. Or better yet, how about you get 50% of the rev, but you forfeit the value of your scholarship. Pay for your own tuition and meals.

 

[JU-ICE]

RE: Washington State: what they have said is that if a player opts out of the season for any reason, they can keep the scholarship and attend classes, however, they are not allowed to participate in any football related activities. So, no weightlifting, team meals and no use of facilities, basically they become a regular student. Not totally out of the question, especially with all the protocals that you figure will be in place if a season happens.

 

[Auggie]

The BIG now also has a Unity Group with a published manifesto: https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/big-ten-covid-19-football-season

These guys are more focused on Covid-19 and safety concerns:

Among the Big Ten players' demands:

• Third-party, approved by players, to administer COVID testing and to enforce all COVID-19 health and safety standards
• Sufficient penalties for noncompliance.
• Mandate for athletics personnel to report suspected violations.
• Whistleblower protections for athletics personnel and college athletes reporting a suspected violation.
• Ban the use of COVID-19 liability waivers.
• Automatic medical redshirt for any player who misses any competitions due to a positive test or a mandatory quarantine due to contact tracing.
• Preserve athletic eligibility, scholarship, and roster spot for any player who opts out of athletic participation or is unable to play more than 40% of their scheduled season due to COVID-19 or season postponement/cancellation.
• Coverage for all out-of-pocket medical expenses related to COVID-19 (both short-term and long-term) incurred by active college athletes.

 

[Yappi]

Sounds like the players are embracing capitalism and want to get rid of the socialistic system of college sports. Basically, all college scholarship
football players get paid the same amount. The backup left guard that never plays gets the same amount of money as the starting QB. Tuition, food, academic support, and other athlete necessities. Each school is different but most scholarship athletes make $20,000 to $50,000 a year. Most of them, we have never heard their names.

Now they want to switch to a capitalistic system. Higher profile players get paid more, lower profile players get paid less. That shift in money is going to be a huge benefit to the stars but get ready for schools dropping football and other schools lowering the number of scholarship players.

Ohio State and Alabama can afford to pay the top players alot of money. The question in a few years will be who will they play? The sacrificial lambs will not be able to stay at the FBS level. The talent disparity will grow.

 

[Sig Hansen]

The safety precautions and extended scholarship life are reasonable. But they can pound sand of Revenue sharing. Or better yet, how about you get 50% of the rev, but you forfeit the value of your scholarship. Pay for your own tuition and meals.

Exactly, you can either take the scholarship $ or choose to get paid, but not both.

 

[Omar]

Exactly, you can either take the scholarship $ or choose to get paid, but not both.

The Covid regulations, insurance, added scholarship length, that’s all fair and more than deserved. However, it’s annoying they don’t realize they’re treated better than every other student on campus. I think they should get paid for the use of their image, that’s only fair. However, beyond that, they still get a free education and most have the easiest path to a degree possible, they just choose not to do the work.

 

[BASESWIMPARENT]

Universities are not in the athletics business. They are in the academics business and anything that threatened their endowments (e.g. get rid of the Covid liability waivers) and their tax exempt protection (e,g. paying players a portion of the revenue) is just not worth it. Most football programs make money for their athletic departments. Very, very few (OSU being one) make enough money to fully fund their athletic department and then kick a few million back to the University. Now a successful football program does seem to increase tax free donations and one might say that the OSU football program helped build the James or that the Alabama football program helped build two 300,000,000 dollar dorms. but most universities have to subsidize their athletic department. If there is no money, I can foresee a greatly reduced athletic department. Look for whole programs to go away across the country like UC soccer did.

 

[gobluetom]

How are those "demands" working out for you college kids?

 

[BASESWIMPARENT]

#WeAreUnited | By Players of the Pac-12

#WeAreUnited in our commitment to secure fair treatment for college athletes.

www.theplayerstribune.com

The basics:

- Want a greater say in the working conditions during the Covid-19 times.
- Want to preserve all sports offered by a school.
- Want to end racial injustice in College Sports.
- Want a new economic model that is fairer to the athletes.


Many think this is the beginning of the end to college sports as we know it because the athletes have finally recognized they have more power than the adults lead on to. A lot of the big name players in the conference are on board and the point that coaches are threatening players about being a part of this group means they are scared that their cash cow may be coming to an end. And don't think this will not spread to other conferences as it appears alumni in the NFL may be helping these guys out. No college football will be a serious threat to many of these schools athletic budgets and I could see the schools caving in to some of these demands. Stay tuned for more...

What these students need to realize is that the Universities don't need athletics. They just don't. Sure, football raises a lot of money... to pay for the Athletic Department. Not many football programs generate enough revenue to pay for themselves and kick money back to the school. Sure, a successful football program does help increase donations to things like dorms, labs and cancer hospitals, but most of their donations come about because of the University's tax exempt status. You start paying athletes and there goes the school's tax exempt status. I actually see most universities deciding to join or re-establish an organization that is hyper- amateur and forget the image and likeness law. Sure, you can do it but you are not play for a member institution. The organizations that these athletes should be petitioning are the NBA and NFL. Both have age/experience requirements built into their CBAs. This means that the player's unions do not want these young adults coming up and taking their jobs. Labor law is almost as powerful as our Constitution. So those changes will need to be negotiated and who really cares about young players? What really needs to happen is that the NFL needs to develop a junior varsity and the NBA needs to develop a viable minor league. And the only way that happens is if college athletics puts the hammer down on neo-professionalism. I think what the BIG 10 and Pac 10 just did is the first shot across the bow.

 

[Auggie]

Congress is getting into the act: https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/2020/08/13/college-sports-bill-rights-unveiled-senators-who-want-change/3362358001/

 

[Arrogate]

Personally think title 9 will be a big obstacle to overcome when paying players. Let them make money of likeness IMO

 

[Sig Hansen]

Personally think title 9 will be a big obstacle to overcome when paying players. Let them make money of likeness IMO

Almost every non football and basketball athlete is going to be in for a rude awakening when they realize their sport is a major financial drain on the university and nobody wants to buy their merch

Eliminate all scholarships for non-revenue sports and make them pay to play. Nobody cares about NCAA golf except NCAA golfers. They should pay for it themselves

 

[brianwr112]

Almost every non football and basketball athlete is going to be in for a rude awakening when they realize their sport is a major financial drain on the university and nobody wants to buy their merch

Eliminate all scholarships for non-revenue sports and make them pay to play. Nobody cares about NCAA golf except NCAA golfers. They should pay for it themselves

There's that pesky little thing called Title IX. Schools like golf programs. Doesn't cost much to run and many of the kids pay tuition.

 

[Arrogate]

Almost every non football and basketball athlete is going to be in for a rude awakening when they realize their sport is a major financial drain on the university and nobody wants to buy their merch

Eliminate all scholarships for non-revenue sports and make them pay to play. Nobody cares about NCAA golf except NCAA golfers. They should pay for it themselves

They would still have to have some women's sports fully funded bc of football and title 9. But defunding all the men's programs would be a huge money saver


Football has what 77 schollies? Basketball 12? And not sure what baseball is but they are profitable for a few schools. Wouldnt need to have that many women's teams to get an equal amount.

 

[Auggie]

Football has 85 schollies.

The model will change. I really think a club based system starting in HS will eventually take over the non-pro sports in the US. Football will hang on for a bit so that those ACC/SEC fans still fighting the Civil War through their teams performance on the football field will have something to follow but eventually all the good player will be at the IMGs or a NFL team's backed club developing football skills and getting a basic education to function in society. The charade of the student-athlete for these top level players will be gone and what will be left at the NCAA schools is something more like Div II with partial scholarships for the majority of players that are there for the degree and not to get ready for the NFL. Basketball is almost at this system and look for more players to go from Prolific Prep to the D League to the NBA route.