Report: SEC football players concerned about what they are hearing from league
Welcome to the pushback. The player pushback. The questions about playing college football during the coronavirus pandemic have involved university and conference administrators. Earlier this week, the players were able to ask questions of Southeastern Conference officials. They did not like all of the answers.
The Washington Post obtained audio of a conference call between SEC officials and members of the league’s student-athlete leadership council. To their credit, the student-athletes did not go along to get along. And to the consternation of those student-athletes, what they heard was not always satisfactory.
An example was this exchange between an unnamed player and SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey.
Player: “For so much unknown in the air right now, it is worth having a football season without certainty?”
Sankey: “Part of our work is to bring as much certainty in the midst of this really strange time as we can so you can play football in the most healthy way possible, with the understanding there aren’t any guarantees in life.”
As the Post points out, Sankey’s 2018 salary was $2.8 million.
In response to the story, the SEC released a statement saying, in part, the meeting was supposed to be confidential.
Backstory: The SEC announced Thursday it has opted for a 10-game, conference-only schedule for 2020. The season’s start has been pushed back to 2020. A full schedule has yet to be announced.
USA Today reported last week that a fall without football would be devastating to most schools.
“Unlike professional franchises with mega-rich owners, college athletics departments are parts of universities that are in the midst of massive financial problems caused by the pandemic,” wrote Steve Berkowitz and Tom Schad. “Some athletics departments have reserve funds that can help them get by for a while. But a survey this spring by the LEAD1 Association — which represents athletic directors at the NCAA’s 130 Football Bowl Subdivision Schools — found that 54 of 95 respondents said their departments do not have such funds.”
On Wednesday, the student-athletes were told that there would be positive cases at all schools. That’s a given. And the student-athletes voiced concerns that once students are allowed back to campus, athletes could be infected by classmates. An unnamed SEC official on the call admitted, “I’m concerned about what happens from 5 p.m. until 5 a.m.”
It should be noted that SEC student-athletes are being given the option of sitting out 2020 and remaining on scholarship. Still, there will be pressure on the players to play. Internal pressure. Should I play? Should I sit? Am I letting my teammates down if I don’t play? Am I endangering my family if I do play? From the sound of it, the responses from SEC officials on Wednesday didn’t do much to help the student-athletes make those decisions.
“As much as you guys don’t know,” Texas A&M linebacker Keeath Magee II said, “it’s just kind of not good enough.”
This story was originally published August 1, 2020 at 2:21 PM.
