UCF AD Danny White was a guest on Mike Bianchi's radio show, "Open Mike," early Thursday morning. The interview began with discussion surrounding the football team's "We are one" video supporting the Black Lives Matter movement.
Click here for the full audio interview
"That was a completely student-athlete led endeavor," White said of the "We Are One" video. "I had nothing to do with it, but I'm really proud of what they put together. It speaks to the power of sports. You have people from all different walks of life, different racial backgrounds, socio-economic backgrounds, religous backgrounds and they all come together and you see what they're feeling. It's a tough time to be a young person in our country right now and I thought our guys did a really god job of conveying how they're feeling."
Bianchi asked White what he's telling student-athletes about the issues of racial injustice and police brutality.
"Sometimes I struggle for what the right thing is to say," White said. "Candidly, I'm probably in over my head in this area. I'm a sports marketer, fundraiser and try to be a competitor in what we do. Obviously our No. 1 priority is our student-athletes. That's why you work in sports, to develop young people. People gravitate to the high profile sports like football and men's basketball, but we have 435 student-athletes across 16 sports. The most powerful thing we do in college athletics is developing men and women. We're just trying to listen to them.
"I'm trying to empower our coaches and provide resources from people who know what they're talking about in this space, way more than I do, who have experience dealing with social issues and encouraging conversation in the right way. We'll have some open forums for our student-athletes. Every kid is kind of in a different place. Some want to talk a lot about this and some don't and that goes across racial boundaries. We have ethnic minorities that don't want to talk about it and some do. We have white kids that some want to talk about it and some don't. We're trying to do a lot of listening right now and support our student-athletes as much as we can."
Bianchi then brought up the Missouri football team. Around 60 Mizzou players led a march in Columbia yesterday, then knelt for 8:46 to honor George Floyd. They also registered to vote. Bianchi thought it was "awesome."
"I did too," White said. "I was reading about that this morning. Jim Sterk, Missouri's athletic director, is one of the best in the business. I'm sure they're listening to their kids the same way we are. I thought that was a really cool gesture by their team, I agree."
UCF football players have started to return to campus. Bianchi asked about the protocols and whether anybody has tested positive for COVID-19.
"I was thinking about our conversation this morning. It really is such a unique and maybe one of the most difficult times to be a young person. We're in the shadow of these kids being ripped away from their college experience. For our men and women, their student-athlete experience they worked so hard for. They're ripped away from their teammates with this quarantine. Hearing from Josh Heupel, we spoke last night, I'm not in the football building, we're trying to keep that population as small as possible for obvious reasons dealing with the virus, but he said the look of the faces of our guys when they got a chance to see each other, was like a kid in a candy store kind of thing. They were excited to be around each other. With the social and racial injustice conversations that are happening, it's a very complex environment for them.
"We're excited to have our football returners back. We brought 60 back this week. Later in the month our plan is to bring the incoming football kids along with men's and women's basketball and hopefully in July the rest of our Olympic sport athletes that would have been here for summer workouts. Some sports, that's not a part of what we do, like in golf...
"We're trying to get back to some sort of normalcy this summer with the expectation that we're going to have a normal fall season, winter and spring and get back to doing what we do. You can't start that up in August. There's a lot of preparation and training. There's a health and safety component. As kids arrive to campus, the first thing they do is have a COVID-19 test. They've been away for us for so long, so we've been doing extensive physical to make sure they're prepared to start voluntary workouts next week. So for the first time in several months they'll have access to weight rooms and fields to do what they'd normally do in an offseason from a voluntary workout perspective."
White didn't answer the question whether any players had tested positive, but tests only began on Tuesday and they may not have results yet.
Bianchi talks about Phase Two, theme parks reopening, etc., so what's to stop college football from having fans in the stands?
"I hope we can," White said. "I'm far from an expert. I'm reading as much as I can and watching television as I'm sure everyone is. I think if we're responsible as a community, as a campus community and here in Central Florida, hopefully we can limit any spikes with this virus and be in a position to where we're not only playing football but also all the traditional pageantry with fans in the stands. That's what we're preparing for. I'm hoping that's what happens."
Bianchi asked DW about his previous comments regarding pushing back the season if fan attendance wasn't allowed in the fall.
"I think it's a big part of what makes college football special. It's a big part of what makes the experience for our student-athletes special. I know it creates complications with the NFL and the draft, but if we're in a position where we can't play college football with fans, the NFL is probably in the same position, so can we find a unified move for the sport that allows people to enjoy football. It's a huge part of our society. There's all those intrinsic reasons why I think we'd be smart to at least wait to give ourselves a chance to see if there is an opportunity to play it the way it should be played, with fans in the stands, whether that's later in the fall, in the winter or spring. Obviously that's a Plan B scenario in my mind. I want to hopefully start the season on time. That's wat we're planning to do, with fans in the stands.
"There's also an economic reality. For us, it's like half of our budget. If we can't realize the game day revenue, that budget supports the 435 student-athletes I mentioned earlier. 16 sports. We're a break-even operation. There's not a financial solution for that. For the bigger stadiums and longer, more established big football power athletic departments, those numbers are significantly more and they don't have a solution for that either. I'd imagine the NFL will have a pretty big problem too with all the revenue they generate on gameday. I hope we look for every possible opportunity to safetly play football with fans in the stands."
Bianchi asked about possible stadium capacity limitations and whether that means he'd entertain the notion of moving some games to Camping World Stadium where there is more room to spread out. DW took a long pause.
"That's a good question. We're looking at a bunch of different models. It's not a conversation I'm looking forward to having. Our fans are so passionate and they're a big part of our success. Our on-campus stadium and the environment we've created is a big part of why we've won so many home games. It's one of the longest home win streaks in the country. It gives us a huge competitive advantage. Playing with less people on campus in the stadium, or playing in a bigger stadium with people spread out, it's not going to be the same. The reason we built an on-campus stadium is to create the environment we have now. It's proven time and again across the country, the student body, to me they're the driver of our gameday environment, the energy they bring. They're not going to come in the same numbers off-campus. That's not an ideal solution, but as we get a little closer, we'll be looking at all options. We're going to have the financial reality to deal with. We've got to find a way to generate revenue and we want to provide the best experience possible for our student-athletes and fans."
Lastly, Bianchi asked whether UCF was the "safest place" for players amid the pandemic.
"I think they are. Knowing all the infrastructure and resources that we put in place for our student-athlete experience, I want to go back and be a student-athlete. We have our Garvy Center for student-athlete nutrition with unbelievable breakfast, lunch and dinner. Really great food. We have the towers that look like Disney World. A great setup. Obviously all our athletic facilities where they can be with each other and focused on their academics and their training. They wouldn't be on our team if they weren't passionate about that. It's a safe, controlled environment for them. We have great health care providers working with Orlando Health. A lot of doctors involved, infectious diseases experts advising us how to matriculate them back to campus and keeping our environment safe and clean. I can't imagine a better environment for them to be in."
Click here for the full audio interview
"That was a completely student-athlete led endeavor," White said of the "We Are One" video. "I had nothing to do with it, but I'm really proud of what they put together. It speaks to the power of sports. You have people from all different walks of life, different racial backgrounds, socio-economic backgrounds, religous backgrounds and they all come together and you see what they're feeling. It's a tough time to be a young person in our country right now and I thought our guys did a really god job of conveying how they're feeling."
Bianchi asked White what he's telling student-athletes about the issues of racial injustice and police brutality.
"Sometimes I struggle for what the right thing is to say," White said. "Candidly, I'm probably in over my head in this area. I'm a sports marketer, fundraiser and try to be a competitor in what we do. Obviously our No. 1 priority is our student-athletes. That's why you work in sports, to develop young people. People gravitate to the high profile sports like football and men's basketball, but we have 435 student-athletes across 16 sports. The most powerful thing we do in college athletics is developing men and women. We're just trying to listen to them.
"I'm trying to empower our coaches and provide resources from people who know what they're talking about in this space, way more than I do, who have experience dealing with social issues and encouraging conversation in the right way. We'll have some open forums for our student-athletes. Every kid is kind of in a different place. Some want to talk a lot about this and some don't and that goes across racial boundaries. We have ethnic minorities that don't want to talk about it and some do. We have white kids that some want to talk about it and some don't. We're trying to do a lot of listening right now and support our student-athletes as much as we can."
Bianchi then brought up the Missouri football team. Around 60 Mizzou players led a march in Columbia yesterday, then knelt for 8:46 to honor George Floyd. They also registered to vote. Bianchi thought it was "awesome."
"I did too," White said. "I was reading about that this morning. Jim Sterk, Missouri's athletic director, is one of the best in the business. I'm sure they're listening to their kids the same way we are. I thought that was a really cool gesture by their team, I agree."
UCF football players have started to return to campus. Bianchi asked about the protocols and whether anybody has tested positive for COVID-19.
"I was thinking about our conversation this morning. It really is such a unique and maybe one of the most difficult times to be a young person. We're in the shadow of these kids being ripped away from their college experience. For our men and women, their student-athlete experience they worked so hard for. They're ripped away from their teammates with this quarantine. Hearing from Josh Heupel, we spoke last night, I'm not in the football building, we're trying to keep that population as small as possible for obvious reasons dealing with the virus, but he said the look of the faces of our guys when they got a chance to see each other, was like a kid in a candy store kind of thing. They were excited to be around each other. With the social and racial injustice conversations that are happening, it's a very complex environment for them.
"We're excited to have our football returners back. We brought 60 back this week. Later in the month our plan is to bring the incoming football kids along with men's and women's basketball and hopefully in July the rest of our Olympic sport athletes that would have been here for summer workouts. Some sports, that's not a part of what we do, like in golf...
"We're trying to get back to some sort of normalcy this summer with the expectation that we're going to have a normal fall season, winter and spring and get back to doing what we do. You can't start that up in August. There's a lot of preparation and training. There's a health and safety component. As kids arrive to campus, the first thing they do is have a COVID-19 test. They've been away for us for so long, so we've been doing extensive physical to make sure they're prepared to start voluntary workouts next week. So for the first time in several months they'll have access to weight rooms and fields to do what they'd normally do in an offseason from a voluntary workout perspective."
White didn't answer the question whether any players had tested positive, but tests only began on Tuesday and they may not have results yet.
Bianchi talks about Phase Two, theme parks reopening, etc., so what's to stop college football from having fans in the stands?
"I hope we can," White said. "I'm far from an expert. I'm reading as much as I can and watching television as I'm sure everyone is. I think if we're responsible as a community, as a campus community and here in Central Florida, hopefully we can limit any spikes with this virus and be in a position to where we're not only playing football but also all the traditional pageantry with fans in the stands. That's what we're preparing for. I'm hoping that's what happens."
Bianchi asked DW about his previous comments regarding pushing back the season if fan attendance wasn't allowed in the fall.
"I think it's a big part of what makes college football special. It's a big part of what makes the experience for our student-athletes special. I know it creates complications with the NFL and the draft, but if we're in a position where we can't play college football with fans, the NFL is probably in the same position, so can we find a unified move for the sport that allows people to enjoy football. It's a huge part of our society. There's all those intrinsic reasons why I think we'd be smart to at least wait to give ourselves a chance to see if there is an opportunity to play it the way it should be played, with fans in the stands, whether that's later in the fall, in the winter or spring. Obviously that's a Plan B scenario in my mind. I want to hopefully start the season on time. That's wat we're planning to do, with fans in the stands.
"There's also an economic reality. For us, it's like half of our budget. If we can't realize the game day revenue, that budget supports the 435 student-athletes I mentioned earlier. 16 sports. We're a break-even operation. There's not a financial solution for that. For the bigger stadiums and longer, more established big football power athletic departments, those numbers are significantly more and they don't have a solution for that either. I'd imagine the NFL will have a pretty big problem too with all the revenue they generate on gameday. I hope we look for every possible opportunity to safetly play football with fans in the stands."
Bianchi asked about possible stadium capacity limitations and whether that means he'd entertain the notion of moving some games to Camping World Stadium where there is more room to spread out. DW took a long pause.
"That's a good question. We're looking at a bunch of different models. It's not a conversation I'm looking forward to having. Our fans are so passionate and they're a big part of our success. Our on-campus stadium and the environment we've created is a big part of why we've won so many home games. It's one of the longest home win streaks in the country. It gives us a huge competitive advantage. Playing with less people on campus in the stadium, or playing in a bigger stadium with people spread out, it's not going to be the same. The reason we built an on-campus stadium is to create the environment we have now. It's proven time and again across the country, the student body, to me they're the driver of our gameday environment, the energy they bring. They're not going to come in the same numbers off-campus. That's not an ideal solution, but as we get a little closer, we'll be looking at all options. We're going to have the financial reality to deal with. We've got to find a way to generate revenue and we want to provide the best experience possible for our student-athletes and fans."
Lastly, Bianchi asked whether UCF was the "safest place" for players amid the pandemic.
"I think they are. Knowing all the infrastructure and resources that we put in place for our student-athlete experience, I want to go back and be a student-athlete. We have our Garvy Center for student-athlete nutrition with unbelievable breakfast, lunch and dinner. Really great food. We have the towers that look like Disney World. A great setup. Obviously all our athletic facilities where they can be with each other and focused on their academics and their training. They wouldn't be on our team if they weren't passionate about that. It's a safe, controlled environment for them. We have great health care providers working with Orlando Health. A lot of doctors involved, infectious diseases experts advising us how to matriculate them back to campus and keeping our environment safe and clean. I can't imagine a better environment for them to be in."
