#MSBLFriday411 - #AllVoteNoPlay

2020 will be a year that we WILL NOT forget anytime soon. With COVID-19 putting the entire world on pause (including sports) and it's slow re-opening, the tragic events of May 25th in Minneapolis, and (soon) the Presidential Election. All of these events have caused an increase in news/social media consumption and (with George Floyd's death) a conversation about one's civic involvement, especially with the impending election.

College athletics, especially at the NCAA Division I level, has been ridiculed more and more increasingly over the years about how the industry has drifted from one focused on the “student” in student-athlete to the money generated for bottom lines. My first post in this series even touched on the changing nature of that discussion with the introduction of name-image-likeness legislation to allow athletes to be compensated.

Well in one tweet (in my unofficial history of this cause) current Georgia Tech Men’s Basketball Assistant Eric Reveno may have shown the importance that college athletics STILL plays in this country:

…and thus began the #AllVoteNoPlay movement

Reveno talked about his motivation behind the movement in an article published by CNN:

"The reason I coach is because I want to help our guys be the best they can be. I don't know why I haven't included civic responsibility in this formula. We teach about financial responsibility, health, nutrition, getting enough sleep. But the most fundamental part of being an American is civic responsibility,"

Beginning with that tweet on June 3rd, the National Association of Basketball Coaches and quickly basketball teams across the country started to announce that they'll be altering or ensuring their schedules present no hurdle for athletes to vote in the November elections now and going forward in the future. This campaign was embraced quickly by programs across the country, including right here in Washington State when Mark Few came out as an early supporter of the movement to not only give the day off but also to help ensure his players are educated before voting.

Things started to take off is when, on June 9th, 2020, UCLA Athletics became the first NCAA FBS Athletic department to announce their “Voting Matters Initiative.” Incoming UCLA Athletic Director Martin Jarmond said that it's vital for college athletics to take a leadership role and show the student-athletes that voting does matter. With this initiative, all 25 UCLA Athletic teams have committed to facilitate voter education sessions with flexibility by the team as far as to schedule; however, all sessions must be complete no later than September 25th to ensure athletes have time to register before the November election. Pitt Athletics was the second NCAA FBS Athletic department to announce a similar measure on June 11th with their “Voting Matters” campaign. Both departments indicated that they would be working with other organizations on campus to help and encourage other students to participate as well.

On June 12th, the #AllVoteNoPlay campaign took another step when the NCAA issued the following statement:

While not the overall desired effect of making November 3rd a mandatory day off, it was a positive step in the right direction and it did draw a very notable reaction from the Mid-American Conference which issued the following statement:

This movement has now caused an NCAA Division I conference to reschedule a nationally televised football game!?!

Within approximately two weeks, and with one tweet, college athletics has rallied around something substantive that they CAN do to help address some of the issues in our country; that's to educate and encourage the non-participatory 18-24 age demographic to go out and vote. While it (college athletics and the NCAA) taken several very notable “lumps” over the last few years, this effort and the collective action has helped college athletic reassert itself (as Coach Reveno said) by helping show the importance of civic responsibility. That action will not only impact their athletes' but by extension, the student bodies who show up every game day and the fans (of all ages) watching at home and in the stands.

I can't help but think that I honestly can't remember a similar effort on the part of the NFL, NBA, NHL, or any professional league…so (again) bravo college sports and Coach Reveno for this effort that will have a lasting impact.