While it is "not yet clear what the merged #WeWantToPlay and #WeAreUnited campaigns will accomplish, college sports leaders feel they have little choice but to notice and, in some cases, stand alongside the players," according to Blinder & Witz of the N.Y. TIMES. Leaders from Big Ten schools spent the weekend discussing the fate of their season, but the "sudden push from players ... threatened to complicate the Big Ten's deliberations." Players have described an "array of motives for their varied approaches to a possible season." Some believe that "tightly regulated football programs can manage the virus and its dangers, or do not want to see years of hard work sacrificed." Others fear that a canceled season "might jeopardize the prospects of older players" (N.Y. TIMES, 8/11). In South Carolina, Todd Shanesy writes the players "aren't just stating the obvious, that they don't want college football to be shut down by school presidents and athletics directors because of the COVID-19 pandemic." They are "making it known that they deserve to have a say in something that affects their own health and futures." Shanesy: "If players are allowed to opt out, why can't they opt in?" (Spartanburg HERALD-JOURNAL, 8/11).
MAKING THEIR VOICE HEARD: THE ATHLETIC's Andy Staples wrote the #WeWantToPlay campaign is "how the vast majority of college football players felt and feel." They understand that trying to play during the COVID-19 pandemic "would entail serious risk, but they also point out that simply playing football in the first place requires an acceptance of considerable risk." The odds of the players playing this fall currently "seem slim." They "may not get their immediate wish." But they "seem more capable than ever of accomplishing some of their long-term goals" (THEATHLETIC.com, 8/10). YAHOO SPORTS' Charles Robinson wrote college football players "deserved to have a voice -- and maybe even a vote -- in what transpired over the past month." Robinson: "It's shamateursim at its best. And again, it's pretty much the most lasting tradition we have in college football" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 8/10).
TAKING SIDES: In New Orleans, Scott Rabalais writes college presidents and commissioners "dismiss the players' wishes at their peril if they fail to heed the recent pushes from the players' side that have led to staff changes at some schools over various issues." Coaches and administrators are "lining up mostly, and not surprisingly, with the players" (New Orleans ADVOCATE, 8/11).
