PAC-12 Players Threaten to Opt out of Season?

[jmc11201]

The sports footprint in society has grown too large and disordered. Too many involved have become too selfish and spoiled. They think they cant turn back into a pumpkin again. NFL is in process of making gambling central. They are adding sensors to players and equipment to aid in gambling (and there will be lounges in stadiums). NFL owners are invested in DraftKings and big data firms. Fantasy football opened the door. NFL doesn't care its the young guys who will get addicted to all this. A pox on all of them.

A few years ago people were mad about the mishandling of sports. Now they've grown cold and that's worse. The great adjustment is at hand. "Pride goes before a fall."

I don't totally blame the kids looking at the coaches and schools making millions of dollars and asking 'why am I not getting a cut?'. The list of demands is about money...let's not pretend it has anything to do with anything else. They threw some safety and social justice demands in there to be inline with the times, but it's about money.

It isn't an unreasonable question for P5 football players to ask where their share of the profits are...and it seems like the schools are moving in the direction of giving these kids the right to profit off their image, etc. The schools brought this on themselves when they started paying coaches $5 million+ per season, invested in hundred million dollar football facilities, and sign billion dollar TV contracts.

The value of their scholarship, room and board, etc...is probably close to $75k per year or $300k over three years. Some kids are going to value the education, some will not.

I'm not sure how we get the genie back in the bottle, but I've long been a proponent of high school kids going straight to the NBA if they don't want to go to college or think they are ready. It makes a farce of 'student-athletes' to have a kid go to two classes in the Fall semester, play ball, then go the NBA the minute the NCAA Tournament ends. Better to have some of the top kids (football/basketball) not go to college, pursue their professional dreams full-time, and let college sports be about kids that want to get an education and represent their schools.

 

[yesrutgers01]

From the end of the article - "And, if the program is indeed not allowing players who opt out of the season to participate in practice or any other team activities — a very reasonable stance if they are opting out over safety concerns — they need to state that."

If players are opting out of playing, why would they be included in practices? They spend much more time during the week practicing, lifting weights, etc, than they do playing on Saturdays. So that's much more exposure and a bigger risk than just playing the games.
For the record, I don't care either way what happens. If they feel strongly about these issues, then opt out, but opting out includes everything. Doesn't it?

I would think it very appropriate to not allow "opted out" players participation in team activities. The touchier subject would be the Scholarship itself.
I am sure that there are ways out of honoring the Scholarship based on what the players are doing but...does any school really want to go down the slippery slope?

 

[yesrutgers01]

Respectfully disagree.
You said: I work for a living, I make a lot more than these kids are making for a free education. If I felt my place of work was taking advantage of or could be doing more for something I really believed in, I would feel I have every right to make my concerns heard as well"

As to your first part- of course you do. We all started out in the same (many of us probably worse) positions. Working for $7/hour while in college to pay my way through. First job out of college making less than $30K/year. Things went up from there, as they should if someone works hard and pursues the best opportunities and takes chances.

As to your second part--I was one of those people to a point--making my concerns heard. You know what? They fell on deaf ears or you were gently told that if you don't like it here, there's the door. I walked through a lot of doors early in my career, and a group of us eventually opened our own door, with a goal of making it the type of place we wanted to work in. I don't know if we succeeded--everybody left except me! But we do have a lot of people who have been with us since the early years, now going on 15 plus years.

Yeah- things were tough on a lot of us that kids no longer could understand. Imagine trying to work a minimum wage job to help pay your way through college? Sort of like many 80-90's movies where the star was a brilliant poor kid who was working 10 hours a day as a waiter or waitress or in the library to pay their way. Unless it is CC, that isn't happening anymore.
Myself- actually tougher...due to family reasons, I didn't have the option of college. Day after HS Graduation, I had to find an apartment and start making it on my own. 60 hrs a week at the local Grand Union and helping an antiques company pick up furniture. Until I landed the most coveted of jobs back then, a full time job at IBM...$6.12 per hour working overnights in the warehouse.

As to the 2nd bolded part- you did what they are doing. They just currently don't have a 2nd option as you did. I never fault anyone for their opinion and if they want to make it heard. But they do have to understand what the potential impact could be to them personally. And hopefully, it doesn't get taken by those with their own agendas that end up using you. Which seems to happen all the time now

 

[DJ Spanky]

Pull their scholarships and let them compete like normal students!

My thoughts exactly.

 

[RUBOB72]

Great job PAC 12 student athletes! True leaders of today and tomorrow.

My thoughts exactly.

What I would rather see is schools I recruit the top students in all academic disciplines and award them for what college is supposed to be EDUCATION... Some athletes fall into those categories of brains and athletic prowess but not many... 15-20 years in the future people will say “ remember when college sports were for amateurs” ... just make it the minor leagues for football and basketball... ask the professional owners to kick in money... lol... Then see how that works out...

 

[Knight Shift]

Not all athletes are going to get just a little bit sick:

 

[Yeah Baby]

Power is intoxicating. Once you get a taste of it, you want more. And more.

Expect events like this to continue.

The wonderful age of college football -- as an enjoyable escape from our troubles and frustrations -- is over.

Bingo. The problem in our country is too many people want to be king right now and NOBODY wants to WORK. Get a job like we all did at your age.

 

[RUBOB72]

Was his father Teddy Feeney played at Michigan State ?

 

[sherrane]

So let me get this straight.
These kids are worried about playing and being brought in to play when the schools are afraid to bring students back.
Concerned about social injustice
Feel that the other sports should also be protected by the money brought in by football

they are monsters! Just can’t make this shit up

There is also the point that 45 NFL players have opted out of playing this season as of last night. Considering that recent studies suggest that a high percentage (87% from a study in Italy) have lingering health issues after recovering from the virus as well as another study that identified a significant percentage of people suffer from lingering heart issues. Sports like baseball seem as if they would be much safer than football, yet MLB has had to postpone games from three teams because of the virus. I was once optimistic there would be a season in 2020, but I now doubt we'll see college football this year.

 

[yesrutgers01]

There is also the point that 45 NFL players have opted out of playing this season as of last night. Considering that recent studies suggest that a high percentage (87% from a study in Italy) have lingering health issues after recovering from the virus as well as another study that identified a significant percentage of people suffer from lingering heart issues. Sports like baseball seem as if they would be much safer than football, yet MLB has had to postpone games from three teams because of the virus. I was once optimistic there would be a season in 2020, but I now doubt we'll see college football this year.

Here is the thing...If my son were still playing and he had decided to take a stand such as some of the PAC-12 players are doing and those were his concerns- I would be proud of him. I would not be looking at him as a greedy, selfish, undeserving of an education football player but as my son who was a fine young man willing to take a risk and stand for what he believed in.

 

[yesrutgers01]

Bingo. The problem in our country is too many people want to be king right now and NOBODY wants to WORK. Get a job like we all did at your age.

You know, the hours put into football are most likely harder work than any of had to do at that age. And they are taking that job to pay for school. And most of them have been working at their job since the age of 8 or so. Not just playing a game like the rest of us but working at it.

 

[Yeah Baby]

You know, the hours put into football are most likely harder work than any of had to do at that age. And they are taking that job to pay for school. And most of them have been working at their job since the age of 8 or so. Not just playing a game like the rest of us but working at it.

I’ve always said that about our players on scholarship when others say they get too much. The full ride barely covers or doesn’t cover the time they put in. I agree. But this situation is power hungry opportunistic and political. Someone fed them these ideas.

PS I do agree coaches make too much in some cases and some players in all pro sports make exponentially more than them. There does need to be a correction all around but I just think everyone is making demands right now and you said yourself above these kids have no clue what we all went through at their age so you agreed with me on my main point.

it’s not just sports. It’s the whole do more for me attitude in our world today.

 

[yesrutgers01]

I’ve always said that about our players on scholarship when others say they get too much. The full ride barely covers or doesn’t cover the time they put in. I agree. But this situation is power hungry opportunistic and political. Someone fed them these ideas.

PS I do agree coaches make too much in some cases and some players in all pro sports make exponentially more than them. There does need to be a correction all around but I just think everyone is making demands right now and you said yourself above these kids have no clue what we all went through at their age so you agreed with me on my main point.

it’s not just sports. It’s the whole do more for me attitude in our world today.

I do feel that there is power and politics driving this but they are using the players and I think the players are actually earnest in their thoughts.
And when I read the demands, it sounded more like, football and the coaches are going to be paid but a lot of the other sports and their coaches will suffer. LEt the staffs share the weath, so to speak and try to help some of the others. The fear of health is self explanatory

 

[koleszar]

I do feel that there is power and politics driving this but they are using the players and I think the players are actually earnest in their thoughts.
And when I read the demands, it sounded more like, football and the coaches are going to be paid but a lot of the other sports and their coaches will suffer. LEt the staffs share the weath, so to speak and try to help some of the others.

It's a nice sentiment but completely misguided. If you're going to pay players like they want, you then can't turn around to the University and say well you have to keep revenue losing sports as well. Only 20 FBS athletic departments turn a profit. They get payed Universities will simply cut sports to Football/Basketball and whatever women's sports you need to be Title IX compliant.

The money has to come from somewhere and they'll start with the revenue losers. Then they'll all cry this is not what we wanted, the same way those who sponsored Title IX getting passed did. Title IX looked at football in a vacuum and to this day people still don't understand, that's not how it works.

 

[Yeah Baby]

I do feel that there is power and politics driving this but they are using the players and I think the players are actually earnest in their thoughts.
And when I read the demands, it sounded more like, football and the coaches are going to be paid but a lot of the other sports and their coaches will suffer. LEt the staffs share the weath, so to speak and try to help some of the others. The fear of health is self explanatory

But I made this comment about pro athletes a few weeks ago who make waaay more than college coaches and you said it was just jealousy. Maybe not my post but to others in the thread perhaps. My point at that time was respect the flag not take money away from anyone. But you didn’t want to take money away from that much larger pool of money? Seems inconsistent.

 

[yesrutgers01]

It's a nice sentiment but completely misguided. If you're going to pay players like they want, you then can't turn around to the University and say well you have to keep revenue losing sports as well. Only 20 FBS athletic departments turn a profit. They get payed Universities will simply cut sports to Football/Basketball and whatever women's sports you need to be Title IX compliant.

The money has to come from somewhere and they'll start with the revenue losers. Then they'll all cry this is not what we wanted, the same way those who sponsored Title IX getting passed did. Title IX looked at football in a vacuum and to this day people still don't understand, that's not how it works.

The "compensation" is something they have been trying to get out there for a while. I find it interesting that it was thrown in with some legit concerns, but that always seems to be the case.
While I agree that the demands in whole are not feasible but they are a starting point. It does seem that the conference has at least conceded that if a scholarship athlete declines for health reasons this year, they ship is protected. But, I also wonder how that really plays out for the borderline player that is either fighting for a place on the 2/3 deep or ST's players. They are protected but do they also get "forced" out? We all know that happens everywhere. Hell, JH made medical retirement a normal way to process out anyone that didnt make an impact.

 

[LotusAggressor]

I don't totally blame the kids looking at the coaches and schools making millions of dollars and asking 'why am I not getting a cut?'. The list of demands is about money...let's not pretend it has anything to do with anything else. They threw some safety and social justice demands in there to be inline with the times, but it's about money.

It isn't an unreasonable question for P5 football players to ask where their share of the profits are...and it seems like the schools are moving in the direction of giving these kids the right to profit off their image, etc. The schools brought this on themselves when they started paying coaches $5 million+ per season, invested in hundred million dollar football facilities, and sign billion dollar TV contracts.

The value of their scholarship, room and board, etc...is probably close to $75k per year or $300k over three years. Some kids are going to value the education, some will not.

I'm not sure how we get the genie back in the bottle, but I've long been a proponent of high school kids going straight to the NBA if they don't want to go to college or think they are ready. It makes a farce of 'student-athletes' to have a kid go to two classes in the Fall semester, play ball, then go the NBA the minute the NCAA Tournament ends. Better to have some of the top kids (football/basketball) not go to college, pursue their professional dreams full-time, and let college sports be about kids that want to get an education and represent their schools.

The schools weren't moving in the direction of allowing players to profit from their likenesses. That was initiated by legislation from state governments.

 

[NotInRHouse]

So let me get this straight.
These kids are worried about playing and being brought in to play when the schools are afraid to bring students back.
Concerned about social injustice
Feel that the other sports should also be protected by the money brought in by football

they are monsters! Just can’t make this shit up

Well, we all know how a certain segment of this board feels about other Americans expressing their right of free speech when it diverges from the narrative they binge on nightly on TV. Especially if those expressing a different view don't share their color.

 

[NotInRHouse]

I don't see how any RU fan can watch what is happening with EL and say a lifetime insurance fund is not only not acceptable but that suggesting it should get your scholarship revoked.

It's also interesting how when people ask to be treated decently and fairly certain people feel their political beliefs are under attack.