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Labor board: Northwestern University football players can unionize

Erod

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Labor board: Northwestern University football players can unionize - CNN.com

(CNN) -- The National Labor Relations Board in Chicago has ruled that football players at Northwestern University are employees and can unionize, the school said Wednesday.
The ruling has not yet been posted to the National Labor Relations Board website, but in a statement, Northwestern acknowledged the ruling and says it plans to appeal.
Northwestern fought the petition by saying its players are students, not employees.

This will change college athletics forever.

If football players get paid, what about the golf team, the women's soccer team, the water polo team, etc? Will those sports be dropped altogether? If athletes strike, do they forfeit their scholarships? Can a team at one school strike on its own? Do athletes at Texas get a piece of the Longhorn Network revenues? Where is this going to go?

Funny, I thought getting an entire college education paid for at a major university was quite a reward to begin with, not to mention the unlimited amount of exposure that could lead to a lucrative pro career for the elite players.

I think this kills college athletics altogether except for football and men's basketball. Problem is, Title IX requires a school to offset the scholarships with women's sports, so it might even kill football and basketball, too at smaller schools.
 
I don't know: I think colleges have taken extreme advantage of football players without giving them much else save for a scholarship. They put them through the ringer, exhaust them, injure them, celebritize them, center the entire school and all else around them and their sacrifice and success.

They uplift college football too much. It needs to be bumped down a notch or two.

Now whether unionizing will be the appropriate path for this, I'm not sure.
 
Labor board: Northwestern University football players can unionize - CNN.com



This will change college athletics forever.

If football players get paid, what about the golf team, the women's soccer team, the water polo team, etc? Will those sports be dropped altogether? If athletes strike, do they forfeit their scholarships? Can a team at one school strike on its own? Do athletes at Texas get a piece of the Longhorn Network revenues? Where is this going to go?

Funny, I thought getting an entire college education paid for at a major university was quite a reward to begin with, not to mention the unlimited amount of exposure that could lead to a lucrative pro career for the elite players.

I think this kills college athletics altogether except for football and men's basketball. Problem is, Title IX requires a school to offset the scholarships with women's sports, so it might even kill football and basketball, too at smaller schools.

The current state of NCAA athletics is nothing less than criminal, although I'm not sure that this particular method is the best way to go about solving it. The legal implications are incredibly complicated.
 
Labor board: Northwestern University football players can unionize - CNN.com



This will change college athletics forever.

If football players get paid, what about the golf team, the women's soccer team, the water polo team, etc? Will those sports be dropped altogether? If athletes strike, do they forfeit their scholarships? Can a team at one school strike on its own? Do athletes at Texas get a piece of the Longhorn Network revenues? Where is this going to go?

Funny, I thought getting an entire college education paid for at a major university was quite a reward to begin with, not to mention the unlimited amount of exposure that could lead to a lucrative pro career for the elite players.

I think this kills college athletics altogether except for football and men's basketball. Problem is, Title IX requires a school to offset the scholarships with women's sports, so it might even kill football and basketball, too at smaller schools.

"No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the
benefits of
,
or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal
financial assistance."

Title IX will have its way with only football and basketball players being able to unionize. I would think that the "benefit" of union representation couldn't be given only to football players because it is in effect only giving it to men. (While women aren't explicitly disallowed from playing football, that argument didn't hold water in previous Title IX rulings so I can't imagine it would hold water here).
 
"No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the
benefits of
,
or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal
financial assistance."

Title IX will have its way with only football and basketball players being able to unionize. I would think that the "benefit" of union representation couldn't be given only to football players because it is in effect only giving it to men. (While women aren't explicitly disallowed from playing football, that argument didn't hold water in previous Title IX rulings so I can't imagine it would hold water here).

Title IX is the reason most universities have a women's soccer team, but not a men's team, or a women's golf team, but not men's. All it does is kill men's athletics.

Unionizing athletics will cause many D2 and D3 schools to just drop athletics altogether, and a lot of D1 schools to scale way back on the number of sports they participate in. A school like Duke could just drop football and focus on its bread-and-butter, which is basketball.
 
The NCAA no doubt in my mind has taken advantage of aesthetes, that is for sure. But calling the employees is a bit ridiculous i believe. As of right now they are appealing the ruling, and unionization wont happen right away. Do i think unionization of college athletes is the best way to overcome these differences? I honestly dont know. I can see both sides of the argument.
 
This also applies only to private schools, not public universities.
 
NLRB rules NW University footballers can unionize

Wow, seems like that happened fast. Will it change the game? Change the way colleges fund? What impact do you think it will have?

The university will appeal.

http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2014/03/26/college-football-players-can-unionize-federal-agency-says/

Moderators: I didn't copy the thread title correctly. Is it possible someone could change it? It should read: Northwestern University football players can unionize, federal agency says
 
Re: NLRB rules NW University footballers can unionize

Wow, seems like that happened fast. Will it change the game? Change the way colleges fund? What impact do you think it will have?

The university will appeal.

Northwestern University football players can unionize, federal agency says | Fox News

Moderators: I didn't copy the thread title correctly. Is it possible someone could change it? It should read: Northwestern University football players can unionize, federal agency says

I hope those players are successful. Seeing how these college athletes make billions for the universities they should get a large cut of those profits.
 
Re: NLRB rules NW University footballers can unionize

Look for 7-8 years of appeals and then the face of college sports will be changes forever. I can see all colleges dropping athletics and they will be replaced by club level sports.
 
Re: NLRB rules NW University footballers can unionize

Duplicate threads!!
 
The current state of NCAA athletics is nothing less than criminal, although I'm not sure that this particular method is the best way to go about solving it. The legal implications are incredibly complicated.
Exactly so.
 
I can't imagine the difference here. To the athlete, there is none.

To the institution and the ruling there is a difference, because public universities are still governed by state labor laws.
 
Re: NLRB rules NW University footballers can unionize

Wow, seems like that happened fast. Will it change the game? Change the way colleges fund? What impact do you think it will have?

The university will appeal.

Northwestern University football players can unionize, federal agency says | Fox News

Moderators: I didn't copy the thread title correctly. Is it possible someone could change it? It should read: Northwestern University football players can unionize, federal agency says

Student athletics can now form a union. what is next? High School sports teams? Your local babysitter union.
 
Re: NLRB rules NW University footballers can unionize

Student athletics can now form a union. what is next? High School sports teams? Your local babysitter union.

When high schools start making this kind of money from their football teams, they'll probably want to unionize too: College Athletics Revenues and Expenses - ESPN

RKTEAMTICKETSSTUDENTSAWAY_GAMESDONATIONSUNIVERSITYMEDIA_RIGHTSBRANDINGTTLREVENUE
1Alabama$28,410,419$0$5,500$29,860,400$4,101,515$8,825,964$4,506,056$123,769,841
2Texas$44,691,119$1,832,229$318,000$35,057,421$0$191,690$16,639,171$120,288,370
3Ohio State$38,608,138$0$3,750,189$27,556,385$0$15,799,713$5,015,349$115,737,022
4Florida$21,122,966$2,578,306$283,376$42,630,821$0$3,907,635$10,184,021$106,607,895
5Tennessee$29,403,335$1,000,000$250,000$26,405,309$0$6,650,000$4,154,643$101,806,196
6Michigan$40,258,325$0$245,178$15,138,000$58,817$2,025,000$11,087,101$99,027,10
 
Last edited:
To the institution and the ruling there is a difference, because public universities are still governed by state labor laws.

So how big of a recruiting advantage would it be for a private school if it could pay players whatever it wanted?
 
So how big of a recruiting advantage would it be for a private school if it could pay players whatever it wanted?

I dont know... It probably also wont be "whatever they wanted". There would probably be some sort of collective bargaining cap/minimum if this law is actually upheld through the appeals process.
 
Re: NLRB rules NW University footballers can unionize

Wow, seems like that happened fast. Will it change the game? Change the way colleges fund? What impact do you think it will have?

The university will appeal.

Northwestern University football players can unionize, federal agency says | Fox News

Moderators: I didn't copy the thread title correctly. Is it possible someone could change it? It should read: Northwestern University football players can unionize, federal agency says

Northwestern will drop football, and as a result no other teams will even attempt it for a long time
 
Re: NLRB rules NW University footballers can unionize

Seems reasonable to me. Those top teams Maggie posted have roughly half the revenue of some NFL teams.
 
Labor board: Northwestern University football players can unionize - CNN.com



This will change college athletics forever.

If football players get paid, what about the golf team, the women's soccer team, the water polo team, etc? Will those sports be dropped altogether? If athletes strike, do they forfeit their scholarships? Can a team at one school strike on its own? Do athletes at Texas get a piece of the Longhorn Network revenues? Where is this going to go?

Funny, I thought getting an entire college education paid for at a major university was quite a reward to begin with, not to mention the unlimited amount of exposure that could lead to a lucrative pro career for the elite players.

I think this kills college athletics altogether except for football and men's basketball. Problem is, Title IX requires a school to offset the scholarships with women's sports, so it might even kill football and basketball, too at smaller schools.

Nah. It won't cause a problem. Sure, we'll probably see tuition for a state college hit $55-60k per semester (in state rate) but all that means is that we'll need more federal funding for college. It'll be kind of cool to finish a bachelors with $250k of student loan debt and job opportunities in the $25-35k/yr range.
 
Re: NLRB rules NW University footballers can unionize

When high schools start making this kind of money from their football teams, they'll probably want to unionize too: College Athletics Revenues and Expenses - ESPN

RKTEAMTICKETSSTUDENTSAWAY_GAMESDONATIONSUNIVERSITYMEDIA_RIGHTSBRANDINGTTLREVENUE
1Alabama$28,410,419$0$5,500$29,860,400$4,101,515$8,825,964$4,506,056$123,769,841
2Texas$44,691,119$1,832,229$318,000$35,057,421$0$191,690$16,639,171$120,288,370
3Ohio State$38,608,138$0$3,750,189$27,556,385$0$15,799,713$5,015,349$115,737,022
4Florida$21,122,966$2,578,306$283,376$42,630,821$0$3,907,635$10,184,021$106,607,895
5Tennessee$29,403,335$1,000,000$250,000$26,405,309$0$6,650,000$4,154,643$101,806,196
6Michigan$40,258,325$0$245,178$15,138,000$58,817$2,025,000$11,087,101$99,027,10

Look at the expenses

Alabama had $123,370,004 in expenses for a whopping profit of $399,837 or $4,703 per player
 
Nah. It won't cause a problem. Sure, we'll probably see tuition for a state college hit $55-60k per semester (in state rate) but all that means is that we'll need more federal funding for college. It'll be kind of cool to finish a bachelors with $250k of student loan debt and job opportunities in the $25-35k/yr range.

You're right. What's all the hubbub? Just raise taxes, no big deal.
 
I dont know... It probably also wont be "whatever they wanted". There would probably be some sort of collective bargaining cap/minimum if this law is actually upheld through the appeals process.

What union ever agreed to a cap on compensation? Hell, these athletes will want a pension after graduation. LOL
 
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