You may or may not have noticed while watching your favorite college football team today, but according to a report from ESPN.com’s Tom Farrey and Outside the Lines, players are marking their gear in protest. “APU”, or All Players United, adorned fields across college football today as players try to bring awareness to what they – and many fans – feel are injustices perpetrated by the NCAA.
Perhaps you’ve noticed the plethora of stories lately across the news – Johnny Manziel getting paid for autographs, Arian Foster getting cash for food and rent while at Tennessee, among the countless other tales of NCAA rules violations.
Well, according to the ESPN report, Ramogi Huma, the president of the National College Players Association, players are uniting in an effort to bring change to the NCAA.
“Players will continue to wear the APU throughout the season and spread the word,” Huma said. “They’re taking the reform effort to television, which has never been done. They’ve been using their bodies to make money for the people who run NCAA sports. Now, for the first time, they’re using their bodies to push for basic protections at the very least.”
So what do the players want?
According to the report, players are looking for the NCAA to use “a portion of its over $1 billion in new TV revenue to guarantee basic protections,” such as “guaranteed scholarship renewals for permanently injured players, a promise that injured players will not have to pay sports-related medical bills, an increase in scholarship aid by $3K to $5K per year up to the cost of attendance, and the establishment of an education ‘trust fund’ that players could tap into after their eligibility expires.”
This all seems fairly reasonable, especially in light of the countless issues plaguing the NCAA and college football today. The players are seeking basic protection and a slightly improved quality of life – not exactly much to ask for considering football is an asset that brings in billions to college campuses around the country.
So what do you think? Are the players asking for too much? Too little?