College football news: Big Ten players group makes serious demands

The College Football Players Association isn't a labor union, but it's making some serious demands

We could be seeing the first steps of what becomes a players union in college football as Penn State players make sweeping demands of the Big Ten conference.

Those demands come on the heels of the Big Ten adding USC and UCLA in 2024, expanding the league and dramatically increasing the value of its upcoming media deal.

In response, the conference's players are in talks with commissioner Kevin Warren about getting more out of that deal themselves.

The group helping organize that conversation is the College Football Players Association, a player advocacy group formed in 2021.

CFBPA founder and director Jason Stahl recently met with Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford, and then spoke with the team in private in mid-July. 

In turn, they met with the Big Ten to discuss introducing a benefit package for players that includes post-career medical aid and a share of the league's TV money.

"The Big Ten Conference consistently communicates and collaborates with our student-athletes," Warren said in a statement. 

"We are in the process of formalizing a student-athlete advisory committee to seek input from our student-athletes about the changing landscape of college athletics. 

"We continue to work with our member institutions to ensure our student-athletes have an outstanding and well-rounded experience, while promoting and safeguarding the mission of higher education, and prioritizing excellence and integrity in both academics and athletics."

How much money players could receive from their conferences - if any - remains a very wide open question.

Labor advocacy group More Perfect Union originally called the College Football Players Association a union, but clarified that the group is not one at this time.

EXCLUSIVE: College football players are unionizing, and the first chapter will be at Penn State.

The College Football Players Association is already in negotiations with the Big Ten.

Led by quarterback Sean Clifford, players want revenue sharing and better medical care. pic.twitter.com/pwg3JGRZbc

— More Perfect Union (@MorePerfectUS) July 22, 2022

This CFBPA is an association that aims to represent players' interests, but reportedly is not ruling out unionization in the future.

Something which became at least a theoretical possibility after a memo emerged last year from the top lawyer at the National Labor Relations Board.

That memo noted that college football players should be legally considered as employees of their universities.

Whether or not college football players will be able to form a union in the future, it does appear the sport is moving in the direction of players having a much larger say.

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