I’ll start by saying that I have not been invited back to Athens as part of Phase 2 and will be spending all of the fall semester at home. I also think it is important to say that I am a huge college football fan and sports fan in general. However, that being said, I have spent the past few days disappointed and angry at the decision of the Mid-American Conference to start its college football season.
When the MAC first announced it was at least postponing fall sports, I felt proud that the conference my school was a part of had the best interests of their students and athletes in mind. When that decision was combined with Ohio University being online for at least the first month of the semester, I was glad to be a student at OU.
A couple of weeks ago, when the Big Ten announced that they were re-starting their football season, the MAC immediately released a statement that they had no plans to restart fall sports at that time. My feeling that they were doing the right thing by their students was reaffirmed.
However, this week the MAC went back on their decision and decided to have a fall football season. This proved something I have believed for a long time: football players are more important to colleges and universities than other students, but also other athletes.
This has been the case for decades, but the Coronavirus pandemic has laid bare just how big the gap is. Schools care more about bringing back football because it makes them money more than they care about making sure their students get the best education possible.
When pro sports started to come back, even though it was putting players at risk, those players make a living playing their sports and while the big stars are doing fine, lower-level players needed the money that would come in from bringing back professional sports.
However, college sports are a completely different animal. These players do not get paid. Only a small percentage of them will go on to play at the next level. Professional athletes are taking, in many cases, a necessary risk. College athletes, and in particular football players, are taking a hugely unnecessary risk just because the schools make money off of their football programs.
In addition, the NCAA has emphasized for decades that their athletes are students first and athletes second. Ohio University bringing football back when not all students are on campus shows that to them, football players are athletes first and students second.
The bottom line is that by participating in the MAC fall football season when not all of their students are back on campus, the people in power at Ohio University have shown that they do not have the best interests of their students in mind.
Will Cunningham is a sophomore studying journalism at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. Want to talk to Will? Tweet him @willocunningham.
