Hoosiers Now

Protests Take Place Outside Big Ten Headquarters

Around 30 parents and protesters from the Big Ten stood outside the Big Ten headquarters to seek answers from the conference on its decision to postpone football.

Dylan Wallace

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — A group of around 30 people protested outside the Big Ten headquarters in Rosemont, Ill., Friday morning to seeks answers regarding Kevin Warren and the Big Ten's decision to postpone fall sports.

The organizer of the protest was Randy Wade, who is the father of Ohio State cornerback Shaun Wade.

When asked what his hope was for this protest, Wade said, "No hope. My goal is that all 14 parents' associations can talk to Kevin Warren with the AD's (athletic directors) on Zoom. That's it. That's all we can ask for is communication."

Many parents from across the Big Ten have been disappointed from the explanation from Warren and the Big Ten as to why the football season was postponed this fall.

Even after Warren wrote an open letter to the Big Ten community, which clearly stated that the Big Ten "will not revisit" its decision and offered a bit more explanation, parents remained unhappy.

Wade said he realizes the decision on fall football will not be reversed, but if he could ask Warren one question, it would be "what steps have we taken, what can we do to play in the spring?"

"I believe, personally, that the things he (Warren) said on the statement, are not going to change," Wade said. "So we're just going to go from there and see what's up."

According to Teddy Greenstein from the Chicago Tribune, the protest lasted about two hours — from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.

Greenstein reported that there were about 30 football people and 35 media members at the peaceful protest.

The teams that seemed to be most well-represented were Ohio State, Iowa and Nebraska.

Wade gave a speech to the crowd, saying, "Show us transparency. When we say let us play, we mean communicate. When we say let us play, it means our kids are important to us."

The crowd then started a "let us play" chant.

Wade, who was wearing a shirt that said "Just A Dad" and a mask that said "#Fight," said he did not expect Warren to be in attendance Friday.

"That's not the reason we're here," Wade said. "We're here to show the world and the country that we care about our kids, we want to fight for our kids, but we want to play safe. That's all we want to do. We just want to play safe."

Related Stories

  • KEVIN WARREN WRITES OPEN LETTER: Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren wrote an open letter to the Big Ten community, saying he will not revisit his decision to postpone fall sports. CLICK HERE
  • PARENTS PUT UP FIGHT: Numerous parents around the Big Ten are unhappy with the decision to postpone football. Here are what some of them are saying. CLICK HERE
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Dylan Wallace
DYLAN WALLACE

Dylan Wallace is a reporter for Sports Illustrated Indiana. He is a 2020 graduate of Indiana University in Bloomington, and is from Crown Point, Ind.

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