#WeWantToPlay Movement Poised To Shake The College Football Universe
Just as it seemed that any plans for the 2020 college football season were dead and buried, there commenced an uprising.
As Sunday night waned into Monday morning, a legion of college football's top players tweeted an identical graphic with an explicit message: #WeWantToPlay.
Oklahoma quarterback Spencer Rattler joined Clemson signal-caller Trevor Lawrence, Ohio State QB Justin Fields, Oklahoma State running back Chuba Hubbard and a host of others in tweeting the graphic and the hashtag.
Sooners center Creed Humphrey, who gave up a likely first-round NFL draft slot to return to Oklahoma in 2020, threw his support behind Rattler.
Earlier on Sunday evening, it appeared that school and conference administrators were well on the way to cancelling the 2020 season, with SI's Pat Forde reporting that any plans to preserve the season had largely been scrapped.
SI's Ross Dellenger reported Monday morning that the Big Ten had voted 12-2 to postpone the season, with Nebraska and Iowa the only holdouts. Dellenger later obtained a copy of an open letter from Nebraska state senator Ben Sasse, which urged the Big Ten presidents to reconsider their decision.
What makes the entire situation all the more intriguing is the players' stated desire to unionize. The NCAA's death grip on amateurism is one of the primary factors driving the impending cancellation of the football season, and the widespread perception is that universities don't want to assume liability should their student-athletes contract COVID-19.
As pending NIL legislation pulls at the fraying seams of the NCAA's amateur athletics model, this could be the final straw. The very mention of a players' association ought to terrify Mark Emmert and the NCAA governing board.
With the top players in college football now expressing their desire to hit the field this fall at any cost, a last-ditch effort to appease the stars and play the season isn't entirely out of the realm of possibility. It's still highly unlikely, but especially given that these players now have public congressional support from the likes of Sasse (and potentially others), it'll be a conversation.
Here's what it comes down to: the NCAA doesn't want politicians taking sides with players. It's an obvious and acute threat to their entire athletic model. The prospect of player unionization is enough of a red flag for the NCAA. But as NIL legislation looms behind the landscape in collegiate athletics, congressional involvement verges on a death knell for the institution.
The NCAA has remained largely silent in the decision-making process to this point, leaving most everything up to the conference commissioners and university presidents. But now Emmert and company don't really have a choice but to insert themselves into the narrative. They can't sit idly by while the biggest names in the NCAA's biggest sport publicly assail the concept of amateurism.
Lawrence, who will almost certainly be the No. 1 overall pick in next year's NFL draft regardless of whether the 2020 season is played, has been one of the most vociferous voices in the fight to preserve the fall football schedule. His support in particular is a searing indictment of the administrative response to COVID-19. The player with the least to gain from a 2020 football season is doing the most to save it, and fans and pundits alike have taken notice.
It's no certainty that the #WeWantToPlay movement will impact any of the plans that are already in motion. All of the Power 5 conferences have presidents' meetings scheduled this week, and rumblings have indicated that the Big Ten could move to officially cancel their season as early as Monday morning. However, the pushback from some of the sport's preeminent players will most definitely warrant mention in said meetings.
What's becoming increasingly clear is that in the battle to retain amateurism in college sports, the NCAA has nary a leg to stand on. COVID-19 has essentially spelled doom for their model in athletics.
If there is football in 2020, it'll have to happen according to the guidelines set out by the players in the #WeWantToPlay camp, thus granting them all the leverage in any future negotiations regarding the amateur model. If there isn't football in 2020, make no mistake about it: NIL legislation and player unionization will become priority 1A, and those opposed to the NCAA's model won't rest until their work is complete.
The message from college football's most talented players is loud and clear: Your move, bigwigs.
But has their maneuver come too late to save the 2020 season? We'll surely find out before long.
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