Anyone who went to bed before midnight Eastern last night woke up to a big surprise: College football players from the five major conferences want to form a union.
Last week, players from the Pac-12
threatened to boycott the 2020 season unless the conference agreed to a series of demands from the athletes. Over the weekend, another group of players (including Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence and many Ohio State Buckeyes) began tweeting in concert
about their desire to play. It seemed like the two groups were at odds with each other—one attempting to use its leverage against the college football power structure, the other hoping to work with the people in charge and get this season underway.
Then came the flea-flicker.
The Pac-12 players’ #WeAreUnited movement and the other players’ #WeWantToPlay effort joined forces. Lawrence and Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields (who could easily go first and second in the 2021 NFL draft) dropped identical statements at 12:01 a.m. ET calling for a set of NCAA-wide policies to address the pandemic’s effect on college football. The aims are straightforward: to create universal health and safety protocols and allow players to opt out without sacrificing eligibility. And then there’s the big one: “Use our voices to establish open communication & trust between players and officials; ultimately create a College Football Players Association.”