Northwestern Football Players Allowed to Unionize

In a potentially game-changing moment for college athletics, the Chicago district of the National Labor Relations Board ruled on Wednesday that Northwestern football players qualify as employees of the university and can unionize.

NLRB regional director Peter Sung Ohr cited the players' time commitment to their sport and the fact that their scholarships were tied directly to their performance on the field as reasons for granting them union rights.

Ohr wrote in his ruling that the players "fall squarely within the [National Labor Relations] Act's broad definition of 'employee' when one considers the common law definition of 'employee.'"

espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/10677763/northwestern-wildcats-football-players-win-bid-unionize

 

I'm telling you, man.

This is gonna be huge.

Let's just hope the NCAA can't do anything to stop it.

 

did you write an article about this? I checked the ncaa forum quick and didn't see anything.

 

Wow...this is ridiculous!

 

here's a decent article summing up the result and what could happen next.

espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/10678393/nlrb-director-decision-follows-road-map-laid-northwestern-quarterback-kain-colter-legal-team

 

You get free room, board, and education. On top of that, you get to play football. Be happy with that.

 

Could not agree more.

 

ncaa can forbid them from playing if they unionize.

 

I haven't yet, man.

Still waiting for more details to emerge. Plus I'm not attorney, I just play one on TV, he he.

But I do feel this has all the makings of a huge turn in college athletics.

For better or for worse.

 

yep, this is a rather significant ruling.

for all of the people that favor paying college athletes, don't complain when the costs of attending college skyrocket, because that's exactly what's going to happen.

and i will be interested to see if this happens what kind of 'pay' the scholarship athletes in lower-revenue producing sports (softball, baseball, hockey, volleyball, etc.) will actually make. For them, if they get a 'salary' instead of a full-ride scholarship, they may regret it because their 'salary' may not cover their tuition and expenses. Can anyone see a college volleyball player getting paid $30,000 a year? Some of those sports already operate at a loss every year with travel expenses, coaches salaries, etc. because they generate very little revenue.

IMO, this whole thing has disaster written all over it for universities, college athletes, non-athlete students, and viewing fans. I don't think anyone is going to win in this whole thing.

 

Where you been @CaptainStubing ,I haven't seen you post here for a while? Glad your back dude :cheers:

 

Stub...

I agree there's a number of pitfalls in the whole thing but if the NCAA hadn't been so damn greedy in the first place, a lot of this could have been avoided.

 

I Think that the ncaa needs to put some of the money they make off these kids from shirt sales of their jerseys into a special fund that pays their medical bills if they have an injury from playing sports. I Do not think it's fair that the ncaa makes all this money and these kids do not get any of it.