CBS analyst Billy Packer figured Wednesday the threatened college basketball coaching boycott isn’t a black-white issue, but rather a green one.
“It’s a misnomer to call it the Black Coaches Association boycott,” said Packer, “because the coaching community in total is in support of this. It’s something universally accepted by all coaches. They wonder why their program, which is responsible for 84 percent of the budget used by these (college) presidents, is the most severely attacked. And why was there so little input from them to explain who is most affected by this (scholarship cutback).
“This has nothing to do with black coaches out on a limb and the others saying the system is fine with us. That’s a big public-relations failing of the NABC (National Association of Basketball Coaches) meetings last summer. You will not find any coach who is not on the side of the BCA. This is more about money and the distribution of assets than about black and white. The most affected person would be the black male athlete and he’s the guy who earned the money.”
Packer didn’t blame the black coaches, however, for making the strongest statement.
“This is one of the most unique racial economic issues that you’ve ever seen in America,” he said. “When the black male athlete was given the opportunity to perform, he performed way beyond the call of duty. Now, after he’s performed within the system, the system’s going to change to make him less likely to be involved with it. I don’t know if that’s happened in any other area of American business. And intercollegiate athletics is business.”
ESPN and ABC analyst Dick Vitale, too, saw the issue in terms of the athletes involved.
“America was built on the idea that people had the chance to dream,” he said. “Youngsters should be given the chance, through tutoring and guidance, to go to college. I wish and hope this dilemma can be resolved through reason and conversation. I emphatically support the coaches, black, white or whoever, because I know they’re only looking out to help the kids.”
Packer will be in Bloomington, Ind., for Sunday’s Michigan-Indiana contest, one of dozens scheduled to be televised this weekend, two on CBS.
A CBS official said the network is ready for anything. “If the games don’t take place,” she said, “our studio would still be open and cover the story from there. (CBS) Sports would stay on the air. Since we have two football games also scheduled, we could do more pre- and postgame programming.”
Raycom has at least 13 games scheduled for Saturday and Ken Haines, executive vice president, said the syndication company-which has at least two Big 10 telecasts slated for the Chicago area-was making contingency plans including showing other games in areas where the boycott may force cancellations. “We’re formulating plans to protect the stations and advertisers so that you’ve still got the right commercials going into the right area,” Haines said.
Haines also said the boycott could have other financial repercussions. “If you don’t have product to put on, this could lead to an effect on the rights fees,” he said.
SportsChannel, with three basketball telecasts planned Saturday, has a fallback plan that includes a Bulls replay from Friday night and another “Decade of Classics” program, but “it depends on how many (time slots) we have to fill,” said a company spokeswoman.
Packer said he doesn’t think a boycott can be effective in the long run and could have “a disastrous effect” if it lasted well into the season. “You’d have a ludicrous situation if the whole team boycotted the season,” he said.
Instead, Packer offered a solution-have every game for the rest of the season begin with a jump ball no one retrieves. Since the game technically can’t start until someone touches the ball “a rule would have to be made on how to start the game. If everyone would accept that, it wouldn’t affect any kids’ opportunity to play but it certainly would send a message-if we decide not to pick up the ball, you’ve just eliminated American’s No. 1 sport. That would be a very solid protest that would receive wide recogntion.”
