{"id":1995365,"date":"2023-08-09T12:59:02","date_gmt":"2023-08-09T16:59:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/how-fighting-for-college-football-became-the-biggest-battle-of-my-career\/"},"modified":"2023-08-09T13:07:26","modified_gmt":"2023-08-09T17:07:26","slug":"how-fighting-for-college-football-became-the-biggest-battle-of-my-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/how-fighting-for-college-football-became-the-biggest-battle-of-my-career\/","title":{"rendered":"The College Football Fight: My Career&#8217;s Ultimate Battle"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fhow-fighting-for-college-football-became-the-biggest-battle-of-my-career%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1995365&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>The Battle \u2064to \u200cSave \u2062College Football<\/h2>\n<p><em>The following is an\u2062 excerpt from the\u2063 new book <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/American-Playbook-Winning-Country-Democrats\/dp\/1668022346\/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2EIWGD6O73X26&#038;keywords=clay+travis&#038;qid=1691529618&#038;s=books&#038;sprefix=clay+travis%2Cstripbooks%2C105&#038;sr=1-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">American Playbook: A Guide to\u2064 Winning Back the Country from the Democrats<\/a> by Clay\u2063 Travis (Threshold Books\/Simon &#038; Schuster).<\/em><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h3>The Fight for College Football<\/h3>\n<p>In the summer of \u200b2020, I had to fight one of the biggest\u2062 battles of my career.<\/p>\n<p>The Big Ten and Pac 12 were close to deciding \u200dit \u200dwas too dangerous to play college football, and\u2064 if they canceled \u200dtheir \u2064seasons it was believed the SEC, Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), and\u200b Big 12 would soon follow \u200bsuit. And if\u2063 college football wasn\u2019t played,\u2062 no other college sport would be played, either.<\/p>\n<p>I decided right then and there I would fight \u2064harder for the playing of college \u200dfootball than I\u2019d\u2063 ever fought \u2063for anything in sports.\u200d Over the next several\u200b months, Outkick, both \u200dmy radio show and the website, became the most aggressive media outlet in the \u200bcountry to support <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/clemson-qb-partners-with-dr-pepper-in-major-brand-endorsement-deal-for-college-athlete\/\" title=\"Clemson QB Partners With Dr. Pepper In Major Brand Endorsement Deal For College Athlete\">playing college football<\/a>. Why \u200dwas playing college football so important in my opinion?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The data \u2063was overwhelming that there was no substantial risk to\u2063 young, healthy players.<\/li>\n<li>If college football was \u2062shut down, many high\u2062 schools wouldn\u2019t \u2062play fall \u200dsports and many wouldn\u2019t open at all.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I\u200c had regular conversations with \u200dSoutheastern Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey during this time.\u2063 He told me that one of the biggest\u200b challenges \u200che faced was how many southern high schools would shut down their seasons if college football wasn\u2019t played. As \u2063a public school kid who\u2062 knew the importance \u2062of\u2064 high school sports to so many in the country, especially\u2064 to many kids who would\u2062 otherwise just vanish when it \u2062came to schooling, I \u200ccouldn\u2019t let that happen.<\/p>\n<p>I made the calculated decision to go all in fighting for college football \u200dto be played. I was a maniac about it, pulling every political\u200b lever I could to\u200b influence governors\u2062 on the issue, and I aggressively used my two biggest platforms, Outkick and \u2062my <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/how-fighting-for-college-football-became-the-biggest-battle-of-my-career\/\" title=\"The College Football Fight: My Career's Ultimate Battle\">national sports radio morning show<\/a>, to that end. We\u2019d\u2062 never had governors on \u2062the\u2064 radio show before, but I had our\u200c staff reach out to \u200ball of \u2063them in\u200b an effort to get them on to\u200c publicly support the return of sports.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>We\u200c had Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on several times.<\/li>\n<li>We also hosted Tennessee Governor\u2064 Bill\u2063 Lee, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, Mississippi Governor Tate\u2063 Reeves, Texas Governor Greg \u200dAbbott, and Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Each of these governors\u2064 \u2014 all with \u200bACC, SEC, and Big\u2064 12 schools\u2064 in their \u200cstates \u2014 came on and endorsed the idea of playing college football in the \u200bfall. Each time I would get a governor to publicly endorse playing, I would \u2063text\u200c Greg Sankey, the SEC\u2019s commissioner, \u2064and let him \u2063know\u200d we \u200dhad another political supporter keeping the dream of playing the season alive.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2062 can\u2019t impress upon you enough, by the\u2062 way, how much I came to respect Sankey. Under immense pressure from \u200bthe sports media \u2014\u2064 almost all of\u2062 whom were convinced the season had to be canceled because it wasn\u2019t safe to play \u2014 he stayed calm and reasonable.<\/p>\n<p>Early on in the\u2062 Covid era, I even called Sankey and told him\u200b that he\u200d was\u2064 used to sports \u2062media being in \u200dfavor of \u200csports, but that wasn\u2019t \u200bgoing to be\u2063 the case now. \u201cYou need to tell\u200b every president and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/judicial-watch-mass-school-district-settles-civil-rights-lawsuit-with-football-coach-fired-for-objecting-to-critical-race-theory-in-daughters-class\/\" title=\"Judicial Watch: Mass. School District Settles Civil Rights Lawsuit with Football Coach Fired for Objecting to Critical Race Theory in Daughter\u2019s Class\">school athletic director<\/a> what\u2019s coming. They\u2019re going to get ripped to the high\u200d heavens for \u200ceven \u2063considering playing. Get them\u200b ready.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"image\"><\/div>\n<p>I wasn\u2019t just lobbying to get\u200d governors on to endorse playing college\u2062 football. I also worked as hard as I could to\u2062 get the\u200b biggest asset of all, President Donald Trump, on my radio show to call for sports to be \u200bplayed, too. Years ago, when\u200c Trump was \u2064elected,\u200b I told my\u200c wife\u200d that one day we\u2019d get him on my sports radio show. I\u2064 even predicted it on the air. Everyone \u2064laughed.<\/p>\n<p>It didn\u2019t seem crazy at all \u200dto\u2062 me, though. After all, Trump was a monster sports fan and we agreed on many overlapping issues \u2062of sports and politics, particularly as they pertained to getting sports back under way, which was an important\u2063 signpost of a return to normalcy in the\u200b country.<\/p>\n<p>Then, one day, it happened.\u200d After months of\u2063 lobbying,\u200b the time \u200cwas right for Trump to come on the show and endorse the importance\u2064 of\u200b playing college football.<\/p>\n<p>The night before the\u200c interview, when I told \u200bmy kids the president was coming on the radio show, my \u2062middle son said, \u201cThat\u2019s awesome. \u200dHe knows Vince McMahon!\u201d (My boys are big WWE fans.)<\/p>\n<p>I couldn\u2019t sleep\u2063 the night before the interview. For regular listeners of my sports talk radio show, they all know our phones\u200d never worked.\u200c I mean, just complete and total tech\u2062 failure all the time. My biggest \u2062fear was\u200d that we\u2019d get Trump on the air and then we\u2019d accidentally drop him. Or he wouldn\u2019t be able\u2063 to hear us. In radio, the tease is what you say as you go to break to try to encourage people\u200d to keep\u2064 listening. That morning my radio\u2063 tease was \u2063\u201cUp next, \u2062the president of the\u200c United\u200c States.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s \u200dprobably the best radio tease imaginable.<\/p>\n<p>Trump came on the show\u2062 and\u2064 said he 100% supported college football being played. But that barely\u200c moved the\u200c needle. Later that very same day, the \u200cPac\u2063 12 officially announced they\u200d were\u200c canceling their \u2062fall season. Shortly thereafter the Big Ten did the same. My\u2064 stomach \u2064sank. After months \u2062of \u2062fighting, it appeared we were \u200bclose to\u2063 losing\u2064 the battle for college football.<\/p>\n<p>Late in that summer of 2020,\u2064 after the Big Ten and the Pac 12 had canceled their seasons, SEC commissioner Sankey called me. \u201cI think I\u2019m going to have to cancel the season,\u201d he said. \u201cThe\u2063 only reason I haven\u2019t \u200bdone it yet is because I\u200b just can\u2019t figure out how to do\u200c it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I encouraged\u200b him to \u2062hang out for as long as he could and keep up the fight.\u200b We \u200cjust needed, I thought, to get the players to report to campus. Once they got to campus and started practice,\u2064 and in the South in particular, where college \u200dfootball is religion, it would be\u200d nearly impossible to stop the games.<\/p>\n<p>On Outkick and on the \u2064radio show we redoubled our efforts. I worked\u200c like a maniac, enlisting support wherever \u200cI could, fighting\u200c harder for college\u2063 football to be played than I\u2019d ever fought\u200b for anything in \u200dmy professional \u2063career. Slowly, we gained\u2062 allies. The\u2064 parents\u2064 of Big Ten football players, it turned out,\u200d were furious they weren\u2019t being allowed\u2064 to play and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/no-bail-for-any-crime-in-illinois-as-judge-oks-democrats-law\/\" title=\"Illinois Judge Approves Democrats' Law, Eliminating Bail for All Crimes.\">filed \u2064lawsuits challenging<\/a> the Big Ten\u2019s arbitrary decision to cancel \u2063the season.<\/p>\n<p>For most of my career, \u2062I\u2019d been an \u200dSEC guy, \u200cbut suddenly I was \u200dthe most popular media figure in the Big\u2063 Ten, one of \u2064the only media members with a large audience who \u200dwas willing \u2062to \u2064fight for \u200dfootball. Our crew was\u2062 small, but committed.\u200b As the football season inched\u2064 closer, I began to work\u2063 with the Trump White House, Tim Pataki in particular, to reverse the decision to \u2063end the Big\u2063 Ten football season. We gained momentum, with Trump even getting on the phone with Big\u200d Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren to try to get that \u200bconference to reverse \u2064its decision.<\/p>\n<p>Heck, I was even\u2063 involved in strategy sessions with the\u2063 White House to figure \u2064out how \u200bto save college football.<\/p>\n<p>But we still\u2062 needed more allies.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s when the players themselves, who\u2064 had mostly been quiet, \u200csuddenly spoke \u200dout on social media. Clemson\u2019s\u200d star quarterback, Trevor Lawrence; Ohio State\u2019s star quarterback, Justin Fields; and many\u200c more players started a \u2063let-us-play hashtag\u2063 on Twitter that \u200bwent viral.<\/p>\n<p>For months I\u2019d been hearing\u2064 from players, coaches, and administrators \u2063behind the scenes about how \u2063badly they all wanted to play, but\u2064 they\u2019d been afraid of being \u2063ripped to shreds by the sports media, who overwhelmingly\u200b had opposed a return to play for\u2064 all sports and spread rampant fear-porn about the deaths\u2064 that would ensue if sports\u200b returned.<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, Mike Gundy, the Oklahoma State football coach, had faced significant censure in May 2020 when\u200d he\u2019d suggested his players should return to campus and resume regular workouts. He\u2019d been so vociferously attacked \u2062for sharing this opinion that many coaches stayed \u2062quiet, afraid of being swarmed by a mob on social media.<\/p>\n<p>Finally,\u200b Outkick had public allies.<\/p>\n<p>Slowly, thanks to steadfast leadership from\u200c SEC Commissioner Sankey and\u2062 the players\u200c speaking out\u200b so loudly, the SEC,\u200d the Big 12, and the ACC began to hold the wall. We just needed to reach kickoff and have the games start. Because\u200b once the games started I was confident the parents of players in the Big \u200cTen and the Pac 12 would force those conferences back to the football fields, too.<\/p>\n<p>During this time, despite being \u2062the most likable \u2062and humble \u200dperson \u2064in sports media, \u2062I made a lot of enemies in the sports \u2062media\u2063 industry. People who had \u200bpreviously been my friends ripped\u200c me in public\u2064 on social media, and in \u2064their articles they wrote about the impossibility of playing football during Covid. Negative articles about\u2063 me and Outkick piled up. I\u2019ve\u200d never been more attacked in \u2062my\u200c entire career.<\/p>\n<p>But as I\u200d said when I\u200b started the book,\u2063 my idol as a kid was Davy Crockett \u2014 be sure you\u2019re right\u200b and go ahead.<\/p>\n<p>I knew I was right.<\/p>\n<p>And if I\u2019m confident that \u200dI\u2019m right, nothing is \u200cgoing to\u2062 stop me.<\/p>\n<p>I worked hard, harder than I\u2019d \u2064ever worked before. I drove the people around me, those working at Outkick, \u200dvery hard, too, the\u2063 radio show, everyone. I wasn\u2019t always the\u2062 nicest \u2064version of myself. Sometimes I \u2062lost my temper with our workers and lashed out\u2062 when I thought\u2064 we weren\u2019t making smart\u2062 decisions or things weren\u2019t being implemented \u2064rapidly enough.\u2062 I was impatient. There was\u2064 so much to make happen and it felt like everyone\u200d was against us and we didn\u2019t have enough\u2063 time to do everything we needed to do to\u200d make the season happen.<\/p>\n<p>In the late \u2063summer of 2020, every day felt like a whirlwind. I barely slept.\u2064 I was on my \u200dphone constantly, running \u200bOutkick and all my\u2064 shows and fighting to save the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/my-antenna-are-up-when-i-noticewhite-guy-white-guy-white-guy-espns-kellerman-smacks-nfl-drafting-quarterbacks\/\" title=\"\u2018My Antenna Are Up When I Notice\u2026White Guy, White Guy, White Guy\u2019: ESPN\u2019s Kellerman Smacks NFL Drafting Quarterbacks\">college football season<\/a> with every ounce of energy I had.<\/p>\n<p>The players reported to fall camp in the SEC, the Big 12, and\u2063 the ACC. Kickoff inched closer and closer. In private conversations,\u200d Sankey\u200b held out hope with me\u200b that if smaller college games could kick off and \u2062then \u200bthe\u200d NFL kicked off, momentum would\u200b carry\u2062 through\u2064 and everyone would play.<\/p>\n<p>On August 30, 2020, the \u2062first college football \u200dgame of\u200b 2020 kicked\u2062 off. It was Austin Peay at Central Arkansas.<\/p>\n<p>I watched \u200devery \u2062minute\u200c of \u200dthe game, luxuriating in\u2064 the return\u200b of football\u200d to\u200d television.<\/p>\n<p>A month\u200d later, on September 26, \u2064the SEC kicked off a full slate of conference games. It was nearly a month later than normal, but finally, \u200bat long last, the season was under way. The ACC and the Big 12 also kicked off their games.<\/p>\n<p>On opening \u200bday, \u2062I poured\u200c myself a tall glass of whiskey. I\u2019m not ashamed to admit that when kickoff happened\u2063 in the SEC, I cried. \u201cWe did it,\u201d \u200cI told my wife. \u201cWe really did it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Not only did the SEC,\u2064 the ACC, and \u200bthe Big 12 play nearly complete seasons, but the Pac 12 and the \u200bBig\u200b Ten, under immense pressure from their own players,\u2062 parents, and fan bases as the other conferences were playing, came rushing back to\u2062 the field, too, even\u200d though their teams were only able to play shortened seasons.<\/p>\n<p>And not \u2064only \u2063was college football played, but not one player or coach suffered serious Covid illness or death as a result. \u200cIn fact, it didn\u2019t happen\u200b anywhere in college athletics. As I\u2019d been arguing all\u200d along, football itself was far more dangerous to players than Covid.<\/p>\n<p>Just about every high school in the \u2064entire \u2063South played football as well. We\u2019ll never know how many kids \u2063stayed in school because of those games, but I\u2019m\u2062 convinced we used sports to help ensure that millions\u2064 of\u200d kids had as close to a normal 2020 school year as possible.<\/p>\n<p>College football being played in 2020 remains my proudest moment in professional life. \u2064If Outkick and\u200b our radio show hadn\u2019t existed, I\u2019m not sure\u200d it would have happened. \u2063When there were almost no voices in the entire\u2064 country advocating \u200bfor college\u200c football, we helped give the necessary space to commissioners, school presidents,\u2062 athletic directors, \u2064coaches,\u2063 and players to \u2062make the season happen.<\/p>\n<p>There are many people all over the \u2062country who deserve credit for college sports being played in\u2063 the fall of\u2063 2020, but I\u2019m confident no one in\u200b sports media did more than \u200bOutkick.<\/p>\n<p>So, again, I \u200bwill \u200balways be immensely proud of what we accomplished.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><em>Clay Travis is the cohost of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.clayandbuck.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Clay Travis and Buck \u200bSexton Show<\/a>. He\u200c is the founder\u2062 and president of OutKick, and is also a\u200c podcast host, TV\u2063 anchor, columnist, editor, and the\u200b author of \u201cRepublicans Buy Sneakers Too,\u201d\u2063 \u201cOn Rocky Top,\u201d and\u2063 \u201cDixieland Delight.\u201d Follow him\u200d on Twitter @ClayTravis.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>This\u2063 excerpt is taken from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/American-Playbook-Winning-Country-Democrats\/dp\/1668022346\/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2EIWGD6O73X26&#038;keywords=clay+travis&#038;qid=1691529618&#038;s=books&#038;sprefix=clay+travis%2Cstripbooks%2C105&#038;sr=1-1\">American Playbook: A Guide to Winning Back the Country from the Democrats<\/a> by Travis Clay. Copyright 2023 by \u2063Clay Travis. Reprinted\u2064 by permission of Threshold Books, \u200bAn Imprint\u2062 of Simon &#038; Schuster, Inc.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The \u2062views expressed\u200c in this \u2064piece are those of\u200d the \u2062author and\u200d do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In his book American Playbook, Clay Travis recounts a pivotal moment in his career when he faced a significant challenge in the summer of 2020. The Big Ten and Pac 12 conferences were on the verge of making a crucial decision.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2270,"featured_media":1995366,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[541],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1995365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-daily-wire"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1995365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2270"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1995365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1995365\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1995366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1995365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1995365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1995365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}