ESPN 98.1 FM – 850 AM WRUF ESPN 98.1 FM – 850 AM WRUF
For six of the 10 FBS conferences, college football is starting soon. Most are understanding of the decision by the other four conferences to opt-out of playing in the fall. However, some issues stand out as a result of the differences in decision making. A major one appears to be the lack of communication between the conferences.
ESPN’s Jay Bilas put emphasis on this issue when he joined the Sports Scene on Wednesday. The conferences claim to be working together throughout the NCAA. Despite this, these same conferences appear to have different pieces of information.
Bilas made it clear that there is no judgment over the actual decisions. There is no wrong decision. However, he wants to know why a conference felt the need to shut down. Bilas said he feels if a conference possesses information that led to this decision, this conference needs to share it with the public.
Bilas considered this lack of sharing a “failure.”
When asked if he would be concerned about the current situation as a player, he said he would be. However, he said he would play. Bilas said that he still would want to be educated on the risks, so he could make an informed decision.
Players Beginning to Organize
During the process to decide the fate of college football and other college sports, players are making their voices heard. Are they beginning to organize?
Bilas thinks so. Bilas pointed out that the leverage of the players has been there. It is only recently that they became aware of their leverage. A player chooses whether or not they play. These decisions can influence a decision made by coaches, a school or even a conference.
Bilas said to expect to see more of this in the future.
Centralized Leadership
This has clearly been missing during the decision making. Bilas said that it might be time that each of the college sports has a commissioner and a representative board of governors to help run things. This would allow for a centralized group to make important decisions without going through this complicated process that currently exists.
