Gov. Morrisey Promotes His Own ‘Backyard Brawl’ Ahead Of Namesake Game

Ahead of this weekend’s football game between West Virginia University and the University of Pittsburgh, Gov. Patrick Morrisey is promoting his economic “backyard brawl.” 

At his January inauguration Morrisey announced the “backyard brawl” effort to make West Virginia more economically competitive for new businesses than neighboring states.

The initiative’s namesake game between West Virginia University and the University of Pittsburgh will kick off in Morgantown Saturday afternoon.

Thursday morning, the governor was with other lawmakers at Pierpont Community & Technical College in Clarksburg to highlight the importance of investing in workforce training as an economic development strategy. 

“We want to make sure that West Virginians get the education and the training they need to enter the lines of work that are available,” Morrisey said. “We have so many open jobs here in West Virginia. We want to make sure we’re matching those efforts up; good people matched with the right job opportunities.”

Morrisey touted other economic upsides of doing business in the state including a low cost of living and legislative support for cutting business bureaucracy.

“We are going to be the best red tape cutting state in the nation, by far, and we’re already well on our way,” he said. “Our ‘backyard brawl’ has started identifying regulations that we could get rid of. We’ve been working with the legislature on that.”

Passed during this year’s regular legislative session, House Bill 2002 allowed for the creation of a permitting dashboard to operate as a “one-stop-shop” for obtaining and renewing permits, licenses, and business registrations. The governor highlighted the initiative as giving the state a competitive edge by speeding up the pace of business, and vowed that “the regulatory climate here is going to be better.” 

A Focus On Student Athletes Ahead Of The Game

The governor made a second media appearance in Morgantown to ceremonially sign bills supporting athletes’ Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) rights. 

“Quite frankly, the athletic programs bring in a lot of money for the schools and really a major force in charging up our local economies,” Morrisey said. “Athletic scholarships give money for kids to go to college and earn their degrees, and they can teach our students important life skills such as teamwork and skill, work ethic and give them the opportunity to overcome obstacles and achieve their goals.”

House Bill 2595 authorized higher education institutes to establish a nonprofit to manage revenue sharing and NIL opportunities for student athletes. House Bill 2576, also known as the NIL Protection Act, allows student athletes to receive NIL compensation from schools or third parties and rely on an attorney or an agent, but also prohibits institutions from legislative appropriations to pay student athletes for NIL. The bills became law in April. 

“Now, I know there are provisions in place, but I’m still going to be a staunch supporter as your governor, I want to help you succeed,” Morrisey said. “West Virginia needs to not only win backyard brawl, it needs to be strong and dominant in sports, which is going to help our state. And I think we’re well on our way to seeing that happen.”