Pac-12 Players Meet With Governor's Staff
A delegation of Pac-12 players who represent the #WeAreUnited movement met with members of California Governor Gavin Newsom’s staff Tuesday and aired their concerns about the conference’s coronavirus protocols.
Among the players’ concerns is retaining the year of eligibility for players who chose to opt-out of the 2020 season because of virus concerns.
The conference has said players who chose to opt-out would retain their scholarships. But there is no assurance that they would keep their eligibility for that season. The players are apparently hoping an executive order from Newsom, could mandate player-approved, third-party oversight and make sure that eligibility is retained. Of course, anything Newsom does would apply to only the conference’s four California schools.
"We really want to be able to move a little faster in getting heath guidelines out there for us,'' California offensive lineman Valentino Daltoso told Associated Press during a conference call with several players from the group. "The eligibility piece is huge for us. If you were to opt out without eligibility guarantees you could be effectively ending your eligibility. The governor's office can help us with that.''
No one from the governor’s office had any comment.
Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott and the players have exchanged communications and both sides say they are willing to meet. But so far have announced no meeting times.
The players posted their lengthy list of demands online on Sunday and sent them in a letter to the conference, which also contained a request for a meeting.
Scott responded Monday, addressed some of the player concerns and made an offer to meet later this week.
“I will come back to you in the coming days following discussion with our members and student-athlete leaders to schedule a call for this week to discuss the matters that you have raised,” Scott wrote, according to multiple media sources.
The players came back and said with training camps possibly opening Aug. 17, they wanted to meet sooner than that.
An email to Scott from the group’s leadership and reported by ESPN said: "While we appreciate the response, we are looking to move on a faster timeline than you have proposed. We are two weeks from fall camp and would like to work to come to a resolution so that we can play this season. Every day that we don't have discussions puts players at additional risk of COVID."
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