Kevin Warren News - MinnesotaSportsFan https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/tag/kevin-warren/ Minnesota sports, but different Tue, 26 Jul 2022 17:11:35 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.3 https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=32,height=32,fit=crop,quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/cropped-cropped-MSF-favicon-1.jpg Kevin Warren News - MinnesotaSportsFan https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/tag/kevin-warren/ 32 32 Tanner Morgan Helps to Derail Latest CFB Unionization Effort https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/gophers-football/tanner-morgan-helps-to-derail-latest-cfb-unionization-effort-big-ten/ Tue, 26 Jul 2022 16:27:12 +0000 https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/?p=39892 The Big Ten is on the verge of signing a new television contract. The new deal is expected to run in the billions of dollars. It will smash all previous college football broadcast rights deals before it. And for good reason, there’s a new drive amongst players to collect their fair share of the inordinate amount of money flowing into their game in 2022 and beyond.

The most likely route to college football players profiting from television dollars is to unionize. That is how major professional athletes in the NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL negotiate revenue splits and salary caps between teams and players in various sports leagues, so precedent is there. The roadmap has already been laid.

Latest Unionization Effort Derailed

There have been multiple attempts at forming a CFB players union. All have been unsuccessful, so far. The latest effort, however, made it further down the track than others. Penn State University quarterback, Sean Clifford, had even agreed to join. Clifford went in front of a camera, and on record, supporting the “College Football Players Association”.

It only took hours for the backpedaling to begin. First, More Perfect Union added a clarification tweet stating, “College Football Players Association leadership clarifies that they aren’t organizing as a union but rather an association to represent players’ interests”.

Then, a few hours later, Clifford tweeted out his own statement, completely distancing himself from the CFBPA, instead expressing a commitment to Penn State and the Big Ten going forward. Clearly, someone had a sit down with Sean shortly after the video above surfaced.

It’s not surprising that the Big Ten and Penn State are pushing back against unionization attempts. Of course, they’d like to have full control of the billions of dollars flowing into college football. If they have to set 40%-50% of revenue dollars aside to pay players, there’s going to be less to disseminate to other sports and channels where that money has flowed historically.

CFBPA Blames Tanner Morgan

Everything mentioned above happened on July 22. Waters calmed over the next few days. Until another stone was thrown on Tuesday morning. This time, from the College Football Players Association, itself.

The statement was brash. It pointed fingers at who was to blame for Sean Clifford’s sudden defection from the CFBPA. Those accused included Big Ten commissioner, Kevin Warren, and most notably for Minnesota Gophers fans, Tanner Morgan, who was singled out as a huge roadblock to unionization efforts.

Sean told me that in addition to Kevin Warren he had been intensely lobbied by another star player and friend to give up on the CFBPA. Sean told me that Minnesota quarterback Tanner Morgan told him he would never support the CFBPA Big Ten campaign and this clearly weighed on Sean. – CFBPA Statement (via Ross Delenger – SI)

One other detail. The leader of the CFBPA is Jason Stahl, a former University of Minnesota professor who was, essentially, run off campus after his unsuccessful attempt to do the same thing to PJ Fleck. You can read more about that situation HERE. In other words, Jason Stahl and Tanner Morgan are very familiar with one another.

Players need help getting fair share

I’m assuming Stahl typed the letter above, himself. Such assumptions feel like a pretty safe bet, after you read the final paragraph. But before you do, let me reiterate the importance of a college football players association or, at the least, some sort of 3rd party that can help players negotiate with the Big Ten, as a whole.

If Sean Clifford, Tanner Morgan or any other college football player really believes that the Big Ten and the University of Minnesota is going to put player interests above or at the same level as their own, then they’re naive, oblivious, stupid or some of all three.

I’m not a fan of Jason Stahl. He created a lot of the hurdles he now faces, in making the CFBPA viable. Stahl tried to run PJ Fleck off the the University of Minnesota campus. His actions back then, put him in a terrible spot with Big Ten coaches and conference leaders, now.

Stahl vs Fleck (New Episode)

Morgan represented another type of star player I was concerned about — those who hold their head coach as an idol who can do no wrong despite all evidence to the contrary. Morgan had long occupied this role at Minnesota. Despite player after player after player coming forward to describe the environment of player mistreatment and manipulation at Minnesota under head coach P.J. Fleck, Morgan defends his coach every time. Just a few weeks ago, yet another former player of Coach Fleck, Val Martin, came forward to highlight the the environment within Minnesota football. He described his personal experience and posted testimonies from other players. Morgan, as always, publicly defended Fleck. – CFBPA Statement

Hopefully, Tanner Morgan has a problem with Jason Stahl and not with the idea of unionization. Major college football players deserve their piece of the massive CFB revenue pie. And they won’t get it without some help.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

]]> Tue, 26 Jul 2022 12:11:35 +0000 Minnesota Gophers Football A Big Ten Re-Vote For October Football is Apparently Happening Friday… https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/gophers-football/a-big-ten-re-vote-for-october-football-is-apparently-happening-friday/ https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/gophers-football/a-big-ten-re-vote-for-october-football-is-apparently-happening-friday/#respond Fri, 04 Sep 2020 03:05:40 +0000 https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/?p=29323

There is so much happening in the world of college football right now. Teams from all over the country are getting read to play this weekend. Meanwhile, the Big Ten… well, nobody knows exactly. After following this for days, I BELIEVE the University Presidents and Chancellors are re-voting tomorrow, on whether or not start the 2020 season on October 10.

This meeting was first reported by Dan Patrick on Tuesday.

There are other outlets who are reporting that this meeting will go down tomorrow. The lesser-known Sir Yacht has been touting a meeting like this all week. Yacht says the Big Ten already knows it will reverse its decision, rendering tomorrow’s vote just a finality.

If the Big Ten indeed announces a season tomorrow, I will be giving Yacht credit because he was talking about this before ANYONE else and took a beating for it online. Are you still concerned about these sources? Remember, Clay Travis is the person who brought the White House and Kevin Warren together on a call, earlier this week. I’m not sure you’ll find someone more plugged into the situation than that.

It’s not just this report from Outkick.com earlier today. There are other developments that point to Friday actually resulting in this vote… and the vote resulting in October Big Ten fall football.

Michigan Reinstates Fall High School Sports

In a shocking move today, the state of Michigan reversed its original course on fall sports this year, announcing football and all others will now resume in mid-September. Michigan has two Big Ten Universities that voted not to play a 2020 football season. Do they flip now?

The original Big Ten vote was reported to be 3-11. If the two Michigan schools flip, the vote would be 5-9. If we assume these Big Ten Presidents and Chancellors are now willing to use common sense, the University of Indiana should be an obvious flip, too. Notre Dame is in the same state and already playing a fall season with the ACC, and will even allow fans.

Outkick’s Clay Travis pontificates on the schools that could flip their votes on Friday, in his latest Twitter video.

How Many Dominos Fall?

With Michigan’s high schoolers now playing, who knows what other midwestern states will do at the high school level. Could we see others announce the return of fall sports, too? Did Michigan start a trend today?

If fall seasons start being called back into play at the high school level, do the reversals make it all the way to Minnesota? We are in election season and Walz has been getting a lot of pushback, since cancelling everything.

It’s easy to see how quickly these dominos could start falling. I can’t imagine the Big Ten wants everyone around them playing sports in the fall, while they sit out. Again, all signs point to this vote happening. If common sense and the importance of hundreds of millions of dollars rule the day, I can’t see Big Ten football not returning in October.

Cold Water via The Athletic

However, plugged in reporter Nicole Auerbach (The Athletic) is continuously pouring cold water on all of these conversations… In fact, The Athletic as an outlet, has been poo-pooing these Big Ten October return rumors. So, who is receiving the good leaks and who is receiving the bullshit? Friday should tell the story.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

]]> https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/gophers-football/a-big-ten-re-vote-for-october-football-is-apparently-happening-friday/feed/ 0 Thu, 01 Jul 2021 14:24:17 +0000 Minnesota Gophers Football NDSU Has Scheduled Football for This Fall Too. WTF is the Big Ten Doing? https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/gophers-football/ndsu-has-scheduled-football-for-this-fall-too-wtf-is-the-big-ten-doing/ https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/gophers-football/ndsu-has-scheduled-football-for-this-fall-too-wtf-is-the-big-ten-doing/#respond Wed, 26 Aug 2020 02:35:56 +0000 https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/?p=29099

Look what I just ran across. Let’s ignore how bad of a Minnesota sports “reporter” I am, being this news actually dropped last night. We have bigger fish to fry. Just in case you’re later to the party than me, North Dakota State University will now play one football game this fall.

The game will be held in front of a limited amount of Fargo Dome fans, on October 3. The showcase game will give their team and fans something to look forward to, plus their Redshirt Sophomore QB (with NFL aspirations) will get a 2020 game to show scouts he’s still progressing.

Even Smaller Schools Get to Play

I thought smaller schools, like North Dakota State, didn’t have the money or resources to prevent the spread of coronavirus through a football? At least, that’s what we were told. So, why are many smaller schools still playing? NDSU isn’t the only one. Many are still planning full conference seasons.

“Group of Five” conferences like, American Athletic, Conference USA and the Sun Belt are all still playing football this Fall. THEIR SEASONS ARE ACTUALLY SCHEDULED TO START BEFORE THE POWER-5 SCHOOLS.

That’s right, Central Arkansas vs UAB and South Alabama vs Southern Mississippi will kickoff simultaneously on September 3 at 7PM, marking the start of the 2020 college football season. That’s just NINE days from today. There won’t be any Power 5 games played that first week, but who cares… it’s football. The Monday night finale will feature BYU vs Navy.

On September 10, ACC affiliate, Miami (FL) Hurricanes are scheduled to take to their home stadium in front of 13,000 fans, to play against UAB. It will be UAB’s second game of the 2020 season.

Is This a Sick Joke?

Meanwhile, players and fans of Big Ten and PAC-12 teams will be watching from home, muttering common sense expletives under their breaths. We have been more “responsible” in the midwest and out on the West Coast.

I thought that mattered (lol). We wore more masks and even had it mandated before it was a necessity. We’ve social distanced and canceled schools, while the South has left things much more open and only used mandates and cancellations after outbreaks had already taken place.

Yet, here we are. They get football and we don’t. And now, just to deliver a People’s Elbow while the good state of Minnesota and most of midwest football is down, NDSU Football announces they will get one game to play this fall too. Sure, it’s just one game… but that’s better than zero games.

None of this makes any fucking sense… Power-5 conferences from the South have less restrictions regarding the spread of COVID and their cases and deaths are higher than the midwest.

Warren’s Job or a COVID Outbreak

At this point, it’s clear college football will happen as long as a big breakout doesn’t occur on any of these teams, before or during their seasons. If ACC, SEC and Big-12 seasons are played and finished, while Big Ten and PAC-12 seasons are not, the fallout for new Big Ten Commissioner, Kevin Warren, could be catastrophic.

Universities that aren’t playing football, have forecasted losses in the $100 million range for just 2020 alone. If football is played, especially if fans are allowed in the stands, those millions get recouped in fast order. The Star Tribune has reported a possible loss of $300+ million for the school, in total, $75 million of that due to athletics. Nearly all revenue pulled in through athletics, comes from football.

If Southern Universities allow students and athletes to attend campus and bring some of that revenue back, while Big Ten schools wither away from every corner… what does that do to the future of these programs from a competitive advantage standpoint, both in the classroom and on the field?

Are we to the point where the Big Ten and PAC-12 are hoping for COVID-19 breakouts among the teams that are playing football in the south? Otherwise, they stand to look foolish in positions where that isn’t allowed. I guess it depends on how much Kevin Warren likes his new gig…

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

]]> https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/gophers-football/ndsu-has-scheduled-football-for-this-fall-too-wtf-is-the-big-ten-doing/feed/ 0 Thu, 01 Jul 2021 14:24:20 +0000 Minnesota Gophers Football