#Save our Sports- Sign the Petition!
By Reach for the Wall Staff
The past few days we’ve seen an increase ‘call to action’ by several organizations to petition the NCAA to stand fast against allowing individual schools and conferences to eliminate certain sports in light of the severe financial crisis they are facing. On April 15, the New York Times ran an article describing a letter sent from the commissioners of five college athletic conferences: American Athletic, Mountain West, Mid-American, Sun Belt and Conference USA, requesting the NCAA to relax some of its requirements because of financial problems caused by the coronavirus pandemic. “This collaborative request from the Group of Five is intended as the sort of creative alternative these unprecedented times demand,” Craig Thompson, the commissioner of the Mountain West, said in a statement. “The waivers of NCAA legislation would create a permissive environment, allowing each institution and conference across the Division I landscape the necessary flexibility to determine how to best proceed in making financial adjustments which are intended to preserve sports and opportunities for student-athletes.” Yahoo Sports further reported: “The requirements the conference commissioners asked for relief from hint at the fiscal peril of schools and leagues outside college athletics’ so-called Power Five. The most relevant among them is relief from the minimum number of “Sports Sponsorships,” as every FBS school is required to have a “minimum number of 16 varsity intercollegiate sports.”
College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA), has deemed this request as extreme and detrimental to the livelihood of Swimming at the Collegiate level: “This represents the single greatest threat college swimming and diving has ever faced”.
They have pushed messaging through their social media sites and when you visit their website (https://www.cscaa.org), this is the first thing you see:
To assist with the campaign, they’ve provided a series of talking points:
We provided this as a graphic above & pdf download below, but to make it easy, here’s the email address: etomas@counterpointstrategies.com
Create your 10-60 second video (we know you have time & know how to use a webcam!!!). Send the video using the talking points and sign the petition!
Fitter and Faster has also pushed for support via their Facebook page:
PAY ATTENTION! This is a real big issue for those of us who like college sports and want our kids to have a place to participate in sports like swimming, volleyball, wrestling etc.
YOU MUST sign this petition now! AND SHARE this post with the link to all of your networks.
PLEASE SIGN HERE: https://www.change.org/p/mark-emmert-stop-ncaa-athletic-pro…
NEXT WEEK the NCAA is voting on rules that will enable colleges to cut the number of athletic programs necessary to maintain their Division 1 status.
This pandemic is a window of opportunity for schools to cut the sports that generate far less revenue than the big ball sports. SPEAK UP NOW!
You can also visit: https://www.savecollegesports.com/openletter to receive additonal information and see the many organizations and representatives that are advocating action.
This is a pivotal time in collegiate swimming, do what you can to keep the sport alive!
We need to continue to find new ways to get through financial crisis without taking away from what has been a foundation of American culture and heritage, the student athlete. Life lessons learned through the pursuit of high level competition creates adults entering our work force ready to tackle on adversity and thrive at their career.