Legal Geek No. 8: Can College Athletes Unionize?

Welcome back to Legal Geek! The topic this week is whether college athletes will succeed in bids to unionize, and the implications of such an action.


https://archive.org/details/LegalGeekEp08

Although the sports world and the nerd world typically share a small window of shared fandom, there are a select few of us who enjoy both worlds. And when a top-flight school like Northwestern rocks the college football world by having the football team petition to unionize as employees of the university, more than just sports fans should pay attention to this fascinating legal case.

When Northwestern college football players asked the National Labor Relations Board to recognize the team as a union, most legal pundits thought the petition would be denied. However, the smart kids and legal counsel won the day this week when the NLRB ruled that the football players are actually employees and can unionize to collectively bargain for benefits, including long-term worker's compensation coverage and perhaps even payment.

While Northwestern University will certainly appeal and fight this, the ruling appears to be sound in reasoning and will be different to overturn. This is yet another chink in the armor for college athletics, where department heads get rich while athletes struggle to make ends meet. A major conference football team brings in millions in revenue but sees only a miniscule percentage of that in scholarships and stipends. A shining example of this hypocrisy hit the news this week when Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith received an $18K bonus for an individual OSU wrestler winning a national championship. Needless to say, the wrestler will see none of that money.

Although public universities are held to state law standards unlike private schools like Northwestern, this NLRB ruling could be the first big step in ensuring that these athletes get better benefits and a bigger piece of the money pie they create. That's a better situation for all involved, as it may encourage players to stay in college athletics longer, thereby improving college sports and also the level of incoming professional athletes as well.

However, it will also dramatically change collegiate athletics, as the bigger sports like football and basketball may be subject to much different rules like a semi-pro league rather than other sports. Thanks to equality laws and regulations like Title IX, this could be a Pandora's box for the NCAA. To put it bluntly, this March Madness may just be the beginning.

Bottom line: College athletics is about to undergo a fascinating sea change, as players bargain for more benefits and perhaps even royalty rights from their likenesses in other ongoing legal battles. For sports geeks, this could fundamentally change the sports we love in ways hard to comprehend now.

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