This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareNational Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell on Friday admitted the league had been wrong to ignore players who spoke out against police brutality and encouraged peaceful protest, a remarkable reversal cast against the league’s recent exile of quarterback Colin Kaepernick that provided another signpost of the rapidly evolving national discourse on race and policing.The NFL has grappled with the issue of protest since Kaepernick first sat, then knelt during the national anthem in protest of police brutality in 2016....…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareNational Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell on Friday admitted the league had been wrong to ignore players who spoke out against police brutality and encouraged peaceful protest, a remarkable reversal cast against the league’s recent exile of quarterback Colin Kaepernick that provided another signpost of the rapidly evolving national discourse on race and policing.The NFL has grappled with the issue of protest since Kaepernick first sat, then knelt during the national anthem in protest of police brutality in 2016....WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareThe college football season, a rite of autumn and a revered American institution uninterrupted for 150 years, veered this week toward a grim fate as continued to surge.When the spread of the virus put virtually all sports on hold in March, many major college football leaders viewed the prospect of playing this fall, perhaps even in full stadiums, through an optimistic lens. They had time and a financial imperative: The entire collegiate athletic system depends on the revenue generated by the sport’s lucrative television...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareThe college football season, a rite of autumn and a revered American institution uninterrupted for 150 years, veered this week toward a grim fate as continued to surge.When the spread of the virus put virtually all sports on hold in March, many major college football leaders viewed the prospect of playing this fall, perhaps even in full stadiums, through an optimistic lens. They had time and a financial imperative: The entire collegiate athletic system depends on the revenue generated by the sport’s lucrative television...WW…

This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareYears ago, when he worked at a school in a major football conference, Connecticut Athletic Director David Benedict listened to league and school officials discuss whether the conference should use its ballooning revenue to create a financial reserve. The conversation went nowhere, and the conference established no emergency fund.Benedict recalled the meeting Friday morning, in the wake of a seismic week for college football. Two major conferences canceled the fall season as players led a push to play while other...…This article was published more than 2 years agoCommentGift ShareYears ago, when he worked at a school in a major football conference, Connecticut Athletic Director David Benedict listened to league and school officials discuss whether the conference should use its ballooning revenue to create a financial reserve. The conversation went nowhere, and the conference established no emergency fund.Benedict recalled the meeting Friday morning, in the wake of a seismic week for college football. Two major conferences canceled the fall season as players led a push to play while other...WW…