When the sport arrives at its new normal following the novel coronavirus pandemic, it will be fundamentally different. But how?
Years ago, when he worked at a school in a major football conference, University of Connecticut Athletic Director David Benedict listened to league and school officials discuss whether the conference should use its ballooning revenues to create a financial reserve. The conversation went nowhere, and the conference established no emergency fund.Benedict recalled the meeting Friday morning, in the wake of a seismic week for college football.
protocols under the threat of boycotting the season. Three days later, the NCAA fulfilled three of their requests: Players who opted out of the season could keep their scholarships; schools could not ask players to sign liability waivers; and schools will pay for any medical expenses related to the coronavirus.Before the pandemic, legal victories had increased the likelihood of players being able to profit off their name, image and likeness, which the NCAA has for years prohibited.
The efforts of players to organize almost certainly will not lead to a union. With athletes in different states, playing for both public and private institutions, there are too many legal hurdles for all to be ruled employees and be recognized as a group that would have collective bargaining rights. But those challenges would not prevent them from forming a trade association, or from making collective, organized demands.
“We don’t have authority to say to a school, 'Yeah, okay, we know that your conference isn’t playing and you want to go ahead and play over here,’ ” Emmert said. “I may think that’s a silly idea, but it’s not up to me; it’s not up to anybody.”
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