Pac-12 player group including UW’s Joe Tryon and Ty Jones lists demands, threatens to opt out of 2020 season
Washington junior linebacker Joe Tryon and senior wide receiver Ty Jones are among a group of Pac-12 players threatening to opt out of fall camp and game participation unless their demands are met by the conference.
The group, which claims to represent hundreds of players in the conference, outlined its movement in a letter posed on The Players’ Tribune. The demands include fair treatment, safety regulations amid the COVID-19 pandemic, revenue sharing and an end to racial injustice in college athletics.
Both Jones and Tryon are listed by the group as media contacts. Several other UW players, including linebacker Sav’ell Smalls, linebacker Zion Tupuola-Fetui, defensive lineman Josiah Bronson, quarterback Jaden Sheffey, offensive lineman Henry Bainivalu, defensive backer Isaiah Strong, offensive lineman Nate Kalepo and offensive lineman Myles Murao, have retweeted the demands.
“It is imperative to ensure my teammates and fellow student athletes a safe environment to play in,” Jones said in a statement. “This is also important to me because this will make future student athletes’ lives easier. Student athletes’ lives shouldn’t be put at risk in order to prevent further financial backlash — especially when receiving insufficient compensation.”
Said Tryon in a statement: “The current state of the world is extremely fragile. We must be able to ensure the safety of all my brothers if we are to return to the field in the midst of a worldwide pandemic. We must also look into the continued exploitation of student athletes and how we do not receive fair compensation according to the amount of revenue we bring in. The line has to be drawn somewhere. It’s been too long.”
Senior defensive back Elijah Molden gave his thoughts on the movement in a statement posted on Twitter.
“It is exciting to be a part of a conference that is bold enough to challenge a flawed institution and fight to have our voices heard,” Molden said in the statement. “This is a long time coming and I fully support that sentiment of the boycott. While I agree with most of the demands, there are a few that I cannot get on board with. My initial reactino was how some of the demands seem unrealistic and far fetched given the context of our unique situation (COVID, financial restrictions, time, etc.)
“But that is not the point. The point is, us players need to have our voices heard. We need to stand up for ourselves and our loved ones, especially under the circumstance we are currently in. So I ask you all, please questions your emotionally charged reaction to the news. Instead of reacting quickly consider the entire situation ... see both sides and rmeember that the situation isn’t binary. This way we can actually see some change and implement the procedures that protect us players. Then we can FINALLY play some damn football.”
UW released the following statement from the Pac-12 Conference:
“Neither the Conference nor our university athletics departments have been contacted by this group regarding these topics. We support our student-athletes using their voice, and have regular communications with our student-athletes at many different levels on a range of topics.
“As we have clearly stated with respect to our fall competition plans, we are, and always will be, directed by medical experts, with the health, safety and well being of our student-athletes, coaches and staff always the first priority. We have made it clear that any student-athlete who chooses not to return to competition for health or safety reasons will have their scholarship protected.”
When it comes to the COVID-19 pandemic, the group is demanding an option not to play without the risk of losing athletic eligibility or a spot on the roster. The group is also pushing to prohibit and void any agreements that waive a school’s liability as it relates to the pandemic.
Moving forward, the group is demanding “player-approved health and safety standards enforced by a third party selected by players to address COVID-19, as well as serious injury, abuse and death.”
The Pac-12 previously said all athletes who choose not to play this season because of health or safety concerns related to COVID-19 will have their scholarship protected and remaining in good standing with their team. The conference also previously decided to eliminate the non-conference schedule for several fall sports, including football. On Friday, it released its 10-game, conference-only football schedules.
In the second section of its demands, titled “Protect All Sports,” the group urges the conference “preserve all existing sports by eliminating excessive expenditures.”
The demands include Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott, administrators and coaches voluntarily and drastically reduce excessive pay, an end to performance/academic bonuses, the elimination of facility expenditures and the use of some endowment funds to preserve all sports. The group cites Stanford’s elimination of 11 sports as an example, pointing to the school’s $27.7 billion endowment.
UW announced its cost-saving measures at the end of June. All head coaches agreed to a 5% voluntary salary reduction and the university also asked for a minimum 3% voluntary salary reduction from assistant coaches and other contract staff. In total, the actions will save approximately $5 million in the staff line item of the budget and $8.5 million in the overall operating budgets — a total of nearly $13 million.
Athletic director Jen Cohen said then UW was committed to maintaining all 22 of its programs.
The players also presented their demands for ending social injustice in college athletics and society. They are pushing for “a permanent civic-engagement task force made up of our leaders, experts of our choice, and university and conference administrators to address outstanding issues such as racial injustice in college sports and in society.”
The group wants 2% of conference revenue to be directed by players to “support financial aid for low-income Black students, community initiatives and development programs for college athletes on each campus.” The athletes are also pushing for the creation of an annual Pac-12 Black College Athletic Summit with representation of at least three athletes of the players’ choice from every school.
UW football coach Jimmy Lake and men’s basketball coach Mike Hopkins pledged $100,000 each in June to assist the Huskies’ athletic department in funding a newly-created senior-level diversity and inclusion staff position to be filled before the end of the summer. In July, the Pac-12 announced the creation of a new head of diversity and inclusion position, the formation of a social justice and anti-racism advisory group and the launch of a series of student-athlete and coach anti-racism virtual forums.
In the final section, the athletes presented their demands for economic freedom and equity.
The group is demanding medical insurance selected by players for sports-related medical conditions, including COVID-19 illness, to cover six years after the end of their eligibility. Under name, image and likeness, it is pushing for the opportunity to secure “representation, receive basic necessities from any third party and earn money for use of our name, image, and likeness rights.”
Finally, the players listed six demands under fair market pay, rights and freedoms. They are as follows:
- “Distribute 50% of each sport’s total conference revenue evenly among athletes in their respective sports.
- Six-year athletic scholarships to foster undergraduate and graduate degree completion.
- Elimination of all policies and practices restricting or deterring our freedom of speech, our ability to fully participate in charitable work, and our freedom to participate in campus activities outside of mandatory athletics participation.
- Ability of players of all sports to transfer one time without punishment, and additionally in cases of abuse or serious negligence.
- Ability to complete eligibility after participating in a pro draft if player goes undrafted and foregoes professional participation within seven days of the draft.
- Due process rights.”
The other football players listed as contacts on the group’s press release are: Stanford’s Treyjohn Butler, Cal’s Jake Curhan, Valentino Daltose and Joshua Drayden, Oregon’s State’s Jaydon Grant, UCLA’s Elisha Guidry, Arizona’s Malik Hausman, Washington State’s Dallas Hobbs, Oregon’s Jevon Holland and Arizona State’s Cody Shear.
This story was originally published August 2, 2020 at 11:40 AM with the headline "Pac-12 player group including UW’s Joe Tryon and Ty Jones lists demands, threatens to opt out of 2020 season."
