As Yahoo Sports reporter Pete Thamel put it last week, “The downward spiral for college football shutting down in 2020 has begun.” That’s a big, big problem for college football programs that have become the financial backbone of university athletic departments. For example, Oregon State University’s football team generates 80 percent of the athletic department’s revenue. And the fallout could go far beyond individual universities — the Big Ten, for instance, has a media rights deal with CBS, ESPN, and Fox worth an estimated $2.64 billion. The Pac 12 has gone so far as to pursue a massive loan, promising roughly $84 million to each member school to make up for lost revenue in case the season is canceled. The entire apparatus of one of the country’s most popular sports depends on college students who are not compensated for their work, college students who find themselves at risk of long-term injury and now a potentially deadly virus while their coaches and administrators make millions. But in the wake of a coronavirus shake-up, players across the country are starting to stand up and say: not so fast.