Economist: Defeat a positive for college football

In March of that year, a regional NLRB director in Chicago ruled that the football players on scholarship were “employees” entitled to unionize under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). He also said the decision sidestepped the key question of whether scholarship athletes are employees.

Some observers said the ruling effectively ends any chance to establish labor unions in college athletics.

Ronald Meisburg, a former general counsel for the NLRB and a onetime board member, said Monday’s ruling would serve as precedent and likely compel regional NLRB offices nationwide to flatly reject future petitions, no matter which union activists submit them.

Its ruling disappointed both the union organizers, who had won overwhelmingly in a vote among the players, and the Steelworkers, which backed them, while cheering right wing lawmakers.

“I was incredibly surprised for the NLRB to punt on this issue, especially after it took 17 months to consider”, Mr. Zola said. Student athletes are technically students, but in many ways-particularly when it comes to the money they generate for their schools-their relationships to the colleges and universities are significantly different from non-student athletes.

Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick says his school would be unwilling to participate in big-time sports if the Northwestern case caused a paradigm shift within college sports, but that schools on the other side of a “cultural divide” might be comfortable with a semi-pro model. In its unanimous decision [press release], which concerned players who receive grant-in-aid scholarships [materials], the Board held that asserting jurisdiction “would not promote labor stability due to the nature and structure of NCAA Division I Football Subdivisions (FBS)”.

“The door’s not closed”, Huma said. Still, Waters says activists could file new union petitions on behalf of teams in another region. That seems like it would be a sticky legal problem that’s not going to go away.

SIEGEL: And remind us first, why did some of these Northwestern players, like former quarterback Kain Colter, want to form a union in the first place? Northwestern University protested, arguing that the players are temporary employees who are not eligible for collective bargaining. She tells OneNewsNow that a ruling in Northwestern players’ favor “would have destroyed college football”. In Northwestern’s case, Ohr concluded coaches are equivalent to business managers and scholarships are a form of pay.

It’s nice that the NLRB is so concerned with maintaining fairness among NCAA teams, but it should be more concerned with fairness for NCAA labor.

“For decades, advocates have been fighting for some things that we got changed in one year”. It came amid a seismic shift in college athletics and just before former UCLA basketball star Ed O’Bannon and his team of lawyers headed to court to challenge the mighty NCAA in court on antitrust issues, a fight they wound up winning.

In a statement, the Indianapolis-based NCAA portrayed the board’s ruling as recognition that it’s trying to improve conditions for athletes. Other states limit, or prohibit, public employees from unionizing altogether: college athletes at the University of Alabama, for example, have no constitutional or statutory right to collectively bargain. The NLRB has no power over state-run schools.

“We believe strongly that unionization and collective bargaining are not the appropriate methods to address the concerns raised by student-athletes”, the university said in a statement, adding that it was pleased with the NLRB’s decision.

In the wake of the petition and other lawsuits seeking more protection of athletes, NCAA and its conferences have been making changes, including more healthcare coverage after graduation in the Pac-12 conference and options in five of the wealthiest conferences that allow for players to receive up to $3,000 in addition to scholarship cash.