Buckeye Breakfast: Pac-12 Boycott, Power Five Could Create New Championship Tournaments

The Pac-12 football schedule is out, but hundreds of players across the league are threatening to not play this fall. Plus, the Power Five conferences have begun discussing what it would look like if they chose to break away from the traditional NCAA Championship model if their fall tournaments are cancelled.

Rise and shine, Buckeye Nation! Each morning, we get you caught up on the latest news and information regarding the Ohio State Buckeyes and the college athletics world. Here are your headlines for August 3, 2020.

Large group of Pac-12 football players prepared to boycott the season

As the first week of August begins, it's looking more likely that fall sports teams will compete in some capacity in 2020. The ACC, SEC and Pac-12 have all publicized their football schedules, with the Big Ten and Big 12 expected to follow suit shortly. But according to Sports Illustrated's Rohan Nadkarni, there is a movement growing among Pac-12 student-athletes that are preparing to not play in 2020 if their demands around health and safety, racial injustice and economic equity are not met.

Hundreds of football players in the Pac-12 are preparing to opt out of the season. They want legally-binding agreements that ensure their well-being is cared for while playing during a pandemic and that enable them to financially benefit off their participation.

“The coronavirus has put a spotlight on a lot of the injustices in college athletics,” Cal offensive lineman Valentino Daltoso told Sports Illustrated. “The way to affect change and the way to get your voice heard is to affect the bottom line. Our power as players comes from being together. The only way to do this is to do something collectively.”

Read Nadkarni's work, including the demands from the Pac-12 players, here.

Power Five conferences exploring creating their own national championships

The NCAA Board of Governors could decide on Tuesday the fate of 2020 fall sports championships. The board met nearly two weeks ago and delayed a decision at the request of the Power Five conferences to see how things could change during the pandemic. It is still possible that they could delay a decision until later in August.

Meanwhile, Sports Illustrated's Ross Dellenger and Pat Forde are reporting that conference leaders have begun exploring the possibility of staging their own version of a national championship if the NCAA decides to cancel their fall sports national tournaments.

Here is an excerpt from Forde and Dellenger's report.

In recent days, Power 5 conference officials began seeking feedback from their members about the feasibility of staging their own championships during the fall, sources told SI. When asked if such a move away from the NCAA championship structure could be seen as a precedent-setting rift between the national governing body of college sports and the Power 5, one athletic director said, "If I were (NCAA president Mark) Emmert, I'd be really worried about it. He's got to keep the Power 5 together."

Another Power 5 athletic director said he thinks the chances of breakaway fall championships are remote, but added, "I think this is representative of the poor relationship between the (NCAA) national office and our conferences."

We hope you have a great day - and remember ... time and change will surely show, how firm thy friendship OHIO!

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