Pac-12 players list demands after threatening '20 season opt out
ByGARRETT STEPIEN


After a published report by ESPN revealed Saturday that Pac-12 college football players were threatening to opt out of the 2020 season if demands for player safety and racial issues were not met, the group pushed further Sunday. In an open letter for the Pac-12 on theplayerstribune.com, the players listed four demands "to protect and benefit both scholarship and walk-on athletes."

Those were health and safety protections, protect all sports, end racial injustice in college sports and society, and economic freedom and equity. Among the four, economic freedom and equity included a subsection — fair market pay, rights and freedoms — with a demand that 50 percent of each sport's total conference revenue be distributed evenly among athletes in their respective sports.

In economic freedom and equity, the players also demanded for guaranteed medical expense coverage, freedom to secure representation and earn name-image-likeness money, six-year athletic scholarships (undergraduate and graduate degree completion), elimination of all policies restricting free speech and charitable work beyond mandatory athletics participation, a one-time transfer rule with immediate eligibility (additionally in cases of abuse of serious negligence), a retainment of eligibility after participating in a pro draft and going unselected, and due process rights.

With regards to the coronavirus pandemic, players demanded an option to not play — without losing eligibility or a team roster spot — a prohibition of agreements that waive the school or program's liability and player-approved health and safety standards, of which would be further enforced by a third party selected by players.

The players also demanded that commissioner Larry Scott, administrators and coaches "voluntarily and drastically" take a pay cut for excessive salary. In that same vein, the players wanted an end to performance and academic bonuses for administrators and coaches, and to prohibit "lavish facility expenditures" instead using those funds to preserve all program sports.

Racial injustice listed the following three points:

Form 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.
In partnership with the Pac-12, 2% of conference revenue would be directed by players to support financial aid for low-income Black students, community initiatives, and development programs for college athletes on each campus.
Form annual Pac-12 Black College Athlete Summit with guaranteed representation of at least three athletes of our choice from every school.
The ESPN report indicated that at least California, Oregon, Stanford and UCLA have players involved. Additionally, UCLA team leaders planned to meet and discuss the potential boycott at some point Saturday.

One source, however, told ESPN that "the central issue (the group) wants to address with the league and its schools is racial injustice." The report further indicated that the group could potentially include "hundreds" of players.

"Neither the Conference nor our university athletics departments have been contacted by this group regarding these topics," a Pac-12 statement to ESPN 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."

As far as safety in college football amid the coronavirus pandemic is concerned, Pac-12 has already announced — along with the Big Ten and SEC — that it will play a conference-only slate in 2020, but decisions such as those have not completely alleviated concerns about player safety across the sport.

See. This why we should all say Fk em. This will radiate to the sec and ACC and beyond. Put em all back on the streets.

fk em, let em flip burgers at Jacks.

Racial injustice? Are the pushing for more whites to get to play and have scholarships? Because looks like biggest majority on scholarship are colored people, lavish facility building to stop, thats what draws the colored kids, what a bunch of crap, sounds to me like some demtard lawyer sold a bunch of kids a bill of goods and they are using the colored kids to get what they want, no way the majority of volored kids have come up with that stuff they are not smart enough to write all that and think that way, UA and AU and rest of the SEC rebuild all thier locker rooms and facilities just because it is what brings in the colored kids

Most of the black players already get preferential treatment even in high schools. My bother played basketball from the time he was 6
until the day he graduated high school. The high school coach actually told my Dad that he felt he had to soften up on the black players
for missing practices and bad behavior since they didn't have Fathers in the home.

Fuggem. They are going to kill the goose that laid a golden egg for them.

I hope these spoiled brats play in empty stadiums and TV ratings go down the crapper.

AU338 nailed it ^^^^. 🖕🏾‘Em

If the conferences give in to this, we'll witness the end of sports in college as well as the NCAA.

Pull scholarships.

I agree 100%!

I thought the pac12 had already cancelled the season? If not...they should now!

Piss on um.

In one of their demands they called for pay cuts to administrators....That aint gonna happen. Those guys will get scabs in to play before they take a pay cut.

Interesting to see how this goes. Nipping it in the bud would probably be the best scenario for keeping control of the situation and setting the correct prescedent, but that's not what the country seems to be interested in now. So my guess is that some kinda compromise will be made to keep the headliners on the field. The conference sucks, but its going to suck even more if half the starters of most teams walk off the field, and they are replaced with 2nd and 3rd stringers, or scabs. The viewership and support/ratings will suffer then too and will result in monetary loss. Either way, the teams/universities/conference suffer.

The viewership and support/ratings will suffer then too and will result in monetary loss. Either way, the teams/universities/conference suffer.[/quote]



You can bank on that.

Mjh97, you are exactly right. If all teams and all conferences are to be equal on race, starters and rosters should be required to be 50% white and 50% black. Any other percentage swing should be racial discrimination. This would reduce the number of black given scholarships greatly and be the first step toward stopping discrimination against the white race!!!

Screw them. Over half of them couldn’t flip a burger or make a toco to order.

No no, whitey has held them down for generations. Part of their reparations! The split would be 100% black. That would get em started. Then, whitey would have to buy all the blm folks tickets for them...ya know, cause whitey dont care about em after they get outta school. Whitey admins would have to furnish all players fams with escalades n new brick ranchers (wait, that already happens). That should take care of 1st semester.

Screw em. The pac 12 sux anyway.

Wouldn't look out my window if the Auburn/Bama game
was being played in my backyard.
Enough is enough. Time to push back on this BS and tell
the "Powers that be" to F--OFF.