College Athletes Are Realizing Their Power Amid the George Floyd Protests and COVID-19
In recent months, however, three states—California, Colorado and Florida—have passed laws that would permit athletes to profit off their name, image, and likeness; in April, the NCAA itself announced that it “supported rule changes to allow student-athletes to receive compensation for third-party endorsements both related to and separate from athletics.” The NCAA said it would enact these rules changes for the 2021-2022 academic year.
But with football players returning to campus in the midst of a pandemic and economic turmoil that has surely impacted some of their families, the least the NCAA could do is allow athletes to receive benefits if any local or national sponsors, or boosters, or neighbors want to offer them. “If there’s a reason to accelerate the transition to a system where kids can legitimately capitalize on who they are,” says Kenneth Shropshire, CEO of the Global Sport Institute at Arizona State University, “this would be it.”
High schools push ahead for fall football amid pandemic
Dozens of states have been welcoming back high school athletes for strength and conditioning programs, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations. And it’s not just football. Other sports such as volleyball and basketball, baseball and soccer can participate as well. Marching bands, too. Iowa became the first state to resume competitive high school sports when baseball and softball teams began play June 15.
In all, tens of thousands of high school athletes are working out or playing games. And with virus cases and hospitalizations rising in hot spots, their return is raising questions of whether it is too soon and too risky.
Instead of focusing only on how to return to sports, high schools should at least consider not playing at all, said Kenneth Shropshire, professor and chief executive of the Global Sport Institute at Arizona State.
“I’m really on the extreme of make things as safe as possible … Just wait. It’s not that important. Even in Texas,” Shropshire said. “Could we forgo a year of high school football? Does the world come to an end?”
Around the country, high schools push ahead with planning for football
Instead of focusing only on how to return to sports, high schools should at least consider not playing at all, said Kenneth Shropshire, professor and chief executive of the Global Sport Institute at Arizona State.
“I’m really on the extreme of make things as safe as possible ... Just wait. It's not that important. Even in Texas," Shropshire said. “Could we forgo a year of high school football? Does the world come to an end?”
But the drumbeat to return to pre-pandemic “normal” is strong, from small farming communities that play six-man football to suburban and and city schools that draw tens of thousands of fans for games.