Big Ten football players share list of requests for the season. Here’s what they want
More than 1,000 Big Ten football players have gone public with a list of requests from the Big Ten and the NCAA in order to feel safe about playing during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. College Athlete Unity — a member organization of intercollegiate athletes seeking to address injustice and affect positive change using its privilege and platforms — published the requests on The Players’ Tribune Wednesday afternoon.
The “Big Ten Unity Proposal” included several subjects with underlying proposals to meet those points: oversight and transparency; prevention and safety protocols; testing, contact tracing and related procedures; player assurances and hazard-related economic support.
The organization’s public request stated it appreciated the Big Ten’s plan for the season, but said it falls short in certain areas.
“Given that the players are the primary stakeholders in the business of college sports, we believe any course of action moving forward needs to include player input,” the request read. “We are deeply disappointed with the lack of leadership demonstrated by the NCAA with respect to player safety during the COVID-19 pandemic. We believe that the NCAA must — on its own and through collaboration with the conference — devise a comprehensive plan to ensure the safety and well-being of players leading up to and during the upcoming fall season.”
The Big Ten’s medical protocol and plan for the season were released earlier Wednesday morning and includes COVID-19 testing twice a week for football players and other high-contact sports. The testing will be centralized through a third-party testing laboratory “for consistency in surveillance and pre-competition testing,” according to a release from the conference.
Staff members and student-athletes will also have to complete a symptom questionnaire before entering facilities each day and any person in close contact with someone who tested positive — or is suspected of being infected — will have to quarantine for 14 days.
The proposal from CAU requested third-party oversight — approved by players — for these protocols, as well as a mandate for athletics personnel to report violations, in order to protect the safety of the players. They also requested an automatic medical redshirt “for any player who misses any competitions due to a positive test or a mandatory quarantine due to contact tracing.”
While the organization made several requests, it did not state an intent to sit out the season like the Pac-12 players who made similar requests Sunday on The Players’ Tribune.
