FOS Daily 6/1/20

The United States was swept by protests and outrage this weekend following the death of George Floyd while in police custody last Monday, sparking a reaction from the sports world as well. In response, leagues, teams, and athletes shared messages of unity, understanding, and frustration. Here are a select few:

– While many athletes referenced Colin Kaepernick’s protest against police brutality, the NFL issued a statement offering condolences to Floyd’s family and stating its willingness to “address these systemic issues together.” However, it did not reference Kaepernick, which drew criticism.

– The San Francisco 49ers and owner Jed York announced a $1 million donation to “local and national organizations who are creating change.” Eric Reid, who protested with Kaepernick while both were on the 49ers, wrote on Twitter, “Nobody wants your money Jed. We want justice. We’ve always wanted justice. Y’all are truly diluted.”

– In an internal NBA memo, Commissioner Adam Silver told league office employees that the league shares “the outrage,” and that “we always say that sports have often been the bridge in society that helps build trust and empathy so we can face hard truths and real challenges together. That is our responsibility especially now.”

– Several Bundesliga players showed their support for Floyd during this weekend’s matches, including U.S. Men’s National Team and Schalke midfielder Weston McKennie, who wore an armband that said ‘Justice for George.’

– Michael Jordan, who has been criticized for not taking stands on social issues in the past, issued a statement that said “We have had enough.”

MLB and MLS both took a step towards returning yesterday, as the player unions for both leagues furthered proposals that would get players back on the field.

The MLB Players Association delivered a counter-proposal to MLB that would include a 114-game season that would start on June 30 and end on October 31. As part of the deal, players would have the right to opt out of the season and potentially defer salaries if the 2020 postseason was canceled, while they would also get a total advance of $100 million in salary for attending spring training.

The two sides had been embroiled in a debate around the return of baseball, getting stuck mostly on the topics of the health and well-being of the players with testing and health protocols, and the players’ financial compensation. Team owners had previously requested players take even greater pay cuts than previously agreed to, causing blowback from players and agents alike. In the MLBPA proposal, it calls for two years of playoff expansion that would include two additional teams from each league, part of a recent proposal from the league.

In soccer, the MLS Players Association voted to approve a summer tournament in Orlando as part of a wider package of economic concessions for the 2020 season and the modification of the currently tentative CBA extension, which was agreed upon in February but has not yet been ratified. Included in that are salary reductions across the entire player base and reduced bonuses. The package has been submitted to the league for a decision by the league’s owners.

As sports come back, teams and broadcasters are working to provide fans ways to interact with their favorite teams while not being able to attend games. Providing crowd noise in empty stadiums has been traced back to 2013 when a stadium in Tunisia allowed for 90,000 fans to cheer through an app and loudspeakers following the Arab Spring.

In Japan, an app will allow fans to pick from “cheer, chant, clap, shout, groan and boo,” to broadcast through the stadium loudspeakers. Empty stadiums across the globe have also now employed everything from cardboard cutouts of fans to robots and dolls to help fill the seats, and in some cases generate cash by allowing fans to purchase or sponsor the stand-ins.

The German Bundesliga has been broadcast in the U.S. with artificial crowd noise, and the English Premier League might offer the same type of feed. In Denmark, more than 30,000 fans used Zoom to cheer on AGF Aarhus through screens around the field. 

FOS reported NBC has discussed the many ways to approach broadcasting games without fans, but no decisions have been made. The network carries Premier League soccer, NFL football and the Olympics, among other sports.

“Nothing is off the table at this point,” NBC Sunday Night Football Executive Producer Fred Gaudelli said. “But this is something that I’d expect all the networks will discuss closely with the NFL as we approach the preseason and regular season.”

The commissioners of the Power 5 conferences have sent a letter to congressional leaders asking for federal legislation to govern pay for college athletes. 

The letter, dated May 23 and signed by the commissioners of the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12, and SEC, outlines the NCAA’s priorities for name, image and likeness compensation while also requesting an anti-trust exemption and a national law. California and Colorado have already passed NIL laws, while 11 other states have legislation in the works. “We expect most if not all states to pass their own disparate NIL laws in early 2021, to take effect in the summer of 2021 if not sooner,” the letter said. 

Other NCAA priorities include: 

• Recognizing athletes as students and not employees and ensuring they are not paid to play sports.                               
• Prohibiting universities from paying NIL compensation to student-athletes.
• Prohibiting boosters from engaging in NIL activity with student-athletes.

The Power 5 conferences spent $350,000 on lobbying in the first quarter of 2020, more than they have spent previously in any full year. The NCAA spent $130,000 in Q1 as well and is on track for a record amount of lobbying spending.

Back to School
As the conferences addressed their proposal to pay athletes, the NCAA released its own plan to help schools bring them back to campus. The Core Principles Resocialization of Collegiate Sport lists three separate implementation phases that the NCAA says should remain consistent with federal and local health guidance. Schools across the country are preparing for the return of football players as early as June 8.