Sean Clifford opened dialogue with Kevin Warren, College Football Players Association set to meet with Big Ten

The College Football Players Association (CFBPA) never planned for its plan to progress this fast. But when word of its meeting with Penn State players made its way to the Big Ten office, there was no other choice.

Suddenly, Jason Stahl has his organization on the verge of a start of a national conversation discussing players’ rights. The executive director and founder of the CFBPA told On3 on Friday afternoon that he held an hour-long conversation with Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren on Thursday.

The meeting with the commissioner, who just pulled off the latest wave of conference realignment, came after word leaked of Stahl’s meeting with Penn State players in State College. The leader of the CFPBA met with quarterback Sean Clifford and leaders of the Nittany Lions team initially before meeting with the entire team over an eight-day span.

“Absolutely doing it where coaches weren’t there,” Stahl told to On3. “We really did want to protect people. We were making sure guys were on board.”

Once word leaked, Clifford reached out to the Big Ten. He already had a relationship with Warren due to committee work and had a direct conversation with the commissioner. The Penn State quarterback was impressed, relaying to Stahl that the commissioner was enthusiastic to talk about the demands.

The association’s demand to Kevin Warren and the Big Ten was as follows: independent medical care enforced by a CFBPA representative, post-football health protections and a percentage of media rights revenue for the players.

“Ahead of my call with Kevin Warren, I sent him our three demands and an explainer of who we are as an institution,” Stahl said. “We had a very cordial, informative conversation where he was basically quizzing me about our three demands and my vision for an independent players association, a representative at each school. Health and safety protections at each school. And then the revenue sharing demand, I could tell it was going to be a stickier thing. But I really hope we can hold his feet to the fire on this.

“I feel like I was really talking to someone who was open to bargaining on these three demands. Yeah, if that doesn’t end up being the case, then we have alternate routes to go through.”

Stahl is now heading to Indianapolis for Big Ten media days with the goal of making this a conference-wide initiative. A meeting is in place to meet with Warren next week in Indianapolis, with the hopes of having all Big Ten players at the event in on the meeting.

Clifford will continue to be a leader of the Penn State organization. The CFBPA has no goals this moment to unionize, but the organization is not ruling out unionization down the line.

What this means for Big Ten, future of college football

When the NCAA put its interim policy into place last summer, it opened the floodgates. Athletes were finally able to cash in on their NIL.

But what Stahl and Clifford are bringing to the table would completely change college sports forever. Media rights revenue sharing has been talked about for years and brought up again last summer following the decision on NIL.

College football is hurtling toward a pyramid system where the Big Ten and SEC control all the power. Realignment has just served as the reminder. Those two superconferences will have a hold on the television money — the real reason why there’s been historic realignment the past two summers. The Big Ten now holds three of the largest media markets in the country — Los Angeles, Chicago, New York City — and no signs point toward expansion slowing down.

No concrete payout projections have been released, but there’s a reality where the Big Ten brings in north of $1 billion a year. Even better for the Big Ten is the fact they’re in the midst of negotiating their next TV contract. ESPN has the SEC wrapped up, and FOX obviously seem to be to land the Big Ten.

And with restructuring of the College Football Playoff only a couple years out, there’s a real question being talked about behind the scenes. How much longer until players are demanding a cut of that TV revenue? Unionization and collective bargaining have been whispered about ever since Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh ripped the NCAA following the Alston ruling.

This latest move from Clifford, Stahl and the CFBPA could be what pushes the sport over the edge.