COVID-19 has created a health risk to athletes across all different sports. The coronavirus is still out there, while sports are making their return.
A growing number of athletes are starting to opt-out of their seasons. Baseball has just seen a player, Yoenis Cespedes, decide to leave the team after several games into the season.
These decisions are going to have a big effect on football this year.
The NFL
The National Football league has created a different opt-out policy because of COVID-19. If they are at high risk for the virus, they will receive $350,000. All other players will get $150,000.
Fans are starting to wonder whether or not players are going to take advantage of this policy. It seems that every day more players are coming out to announce they will not be playing in 2020.
Chiefs offensive guard, Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, was the first to opt-out. Many others are beginning to follow his lead.
The New England Patriots have more players than any other team that is opting out. So far, the following players won’t be on the sideline for the Patriots this year:
RB Brandon Bolden
OT Marcus Cannon
S Patrick Chung
LB Dont’ a Hightower
WR Marqise Lee
OL Najee Toran
FB Danny Vitale
TE Matt LaCosse
The NFL and NFLPA still need to agree on a Collective Bargaining Agreement. Once they do, players will have a week to decide whether or not they wish to opt-out.
The season is scheduled to begin on September 10th when the Houston Texans take on the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs.
The NCAA
Players from the Pac-12 conference have come together to write a letter to the leaders of the league. They have a list of demands in order for them to play this season.
The letter in the Player’s Tribune reads, “Because NCAA sports exploit college athletes physically, economically and academically, and also disproportionately harm Black college athletes, #WeAreUnited.”
There is a lot of questions surrounding the NCAA and how they will navigate the coronavirus. There has yet to be any firm decisions on a protocol for these student-athletes.
Without that, these athletes may boycott the season. They reiterated that they are being put at risk, as well as their families if they play this season. It’s not that they don’t want to play, but they want a clearer strategy.
“Neither the Conference nor our university athletics departments have been contacted by this group regarding these topics,” a Pac-12 statement said. “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.”
It will be interesting to see if any other conferences follow suit. They may see what these Pac-12 athletes have done and think they need to do the same.
The NCAA has a long road ahead with navigating the tough climate during this health pandemic. Hopefully, they can find a way to meet these expectations from these student-athletes.
