Pac-12 Football Players Won't Play this Season Without COVID Protections, Revenue Sharing and More

Pac-12 football players will not play this season unless there are some major concessions made by their conference. Players of the Pac-12 released a list of statements and demands in The Players Tribune on Sunday morning. In it, the players call for safety measures and protections if they play during the pandemic, elimination of "excessive expenditures," funding for all sports, a share of the revenue and help ending racial injustice in the sport and society. Here's a sample, via TPT:

"Because any player who does not feel comfortable playing this season should be free to opt out without losing their scholarship or any eligibility, #WeAreUnited. Because immoral rules would punish us for receiving basic necessities or compensation for the use of our names, images and likenesses, while many of us and our families are suffering economically from the COVID-19 fallout, #WeAreUnited. Because we should be included in equitably sharing the revenue our talents generate, especially in a pandemic, #WeAreUnited. Because unjust rules prevent the 98% of college football and basketball players who won’t go pro from capitalizing economically on what would otherwise be the most valuable years of our lives, including many Black players from low-income homes, #WeAreUnited. Because eliminating lavish salaries and facility expenditures to preserve all sports must be prioritized, #WeAreUnited."

Who knows what happens next, but whether or not there is a football season next month... the Pac-12 football players appear to have organized and even after there is a vaccine, why would they stop asking for the non-pandemic related stuff? The specifically called out Stanford to use their $27.7 billion endowment to reinstate all the sports they just canceled. There's no reason to stop fighting for social justice and there's no reason they should continue to give up the revenue they generate while coaches and administrators get rich.

If other power five conferences follow suit, who knows where this will end.