National Labor Relations Board files complaint for unfair labor practices vs. NCAA, Pac-12, USC

[Carnac]

A legal battle that would open the door for some college athletes to form unions took an expected, yet significant step forward Thursday when the National Labor Relations Board issued a complaint against the NCAA, the Pac-12, and USC for unfair labor practices.

If athletes -- this complaint applies only to football, men's basketball, and women's basketball players -- are viewed as employees under the National Labor Relations Act, they would have the ability to organize and collectively bargain against schools for a larger share of the billions of dollars of revenue generated by college sports each year as well as other workplace protections.

NLRB files complaint vs. NCAA, Pac-12, USC

The National Labor Relations Board issued a complaint against the NCAA, the Pac-12 and USC for unfair labor practices.

www.espn.com

 

[MSGRET]

I'm sorry but if they want money for playing a sport while in college, then they pay for their education. These "students" are getting a free education, room and board, medical "if needed", and other bennies, I believe those should be paid for if they are getting paid for the sport they are participating in.

 

[LwrcasefaN]

Want money? Go pro. Want an education? Stick around.

 

[ccwarrior]

Those who didn't play a D-1 sport before the loosened rules need do some research or talk to those who did before making snap judgments

 

[SCHuskiedad]

Those who didn't play a D-1 sport before the loosened rules need do some research or talk to those who did before making snap judgments

Oh no doubt D1 sports is a job. Let’s see what they are able to negotiate, and what they are willing to strike over.

 

[Rowdy831]

Those who didn't play a D-1 sport before the loosened rules need do some research or talk to those who did before making snap judgments

I understand athletes wanting more but quite frankly the schools can't afford to pay them. The vast majority of programs right now are not profitable and paying players will make them consider cutting out sports that are a drain like golf or tennis. Your education is the trade you make for traveling the country and playing with a logo on your shirt.

 

[Bone Dog]

I'm not sure what to make of this, other than that it is a long time coming. It's not just the NCAA and athletes. There's trouble brewing in the way universities treat grad student teaching assistants as well. I'm also not at all confident it will benefit the students to win this case. In any event, there's been something rotten in Denmark... er I mean, the American university... for a long time.

 

[Rowdy831]

This will be another blow to college sports. Are you going to pay all players or just those that play on the field? Every player regardless of playing time has the same requirements as the others. Many players are given access to schools with waivers they otherwise wouldn't be able to qualify for, what about them? Cut teams down to 53 every year and if you make the team you keep your scholarship and also get a paycheck, would that be better?

Michigan has one of the most profitable athletic programs. They have just over 900 athletes competing in 29 sports so if they only got paid $1500 it would cost the athletic department $16.2mil per year before any infrastructure expenses associated with the change. Many schools are already losing money so how will this be feasible for them?

Keep in mind that the salary is the least expensive part of doing something like this with any company. In the end this is a way for the Union to nudge their way into the NCAA money cart and they should be told NO!!

 

[ccwarrior]

I understand athletes wanting more but quite frankly the schools can't afford to pay them. The vast majority of programs right now are not profitable and paying players will make them consider cutting out sports that are a drain like golf or tennis. Your education is the trade you make for traveling the country and playing with a logo on your shirt.

If you mean from state funding or tuition dollars, then you are right. You are forgetting the massive (hundreds of millions of dollars) funds that schools get from media rights and apparel/shoe/supplement contracts.

 

[ccwarrior]

This will be another blow to college sports. Are you going to pay all players or just those that play on the field? Every player regardless of playing time has the same requirements as the others. Many players are given access to schools with waivers they otherwise wouldn't be able to qualify for, what about them? Cut teams down to 53 every year and if you make the team you keep your scholarship and also get a paycheck, would that be better?

Michigan has one of the most profitable athletic programs. They have just over 900 athletes competing in 29 sports so if they only got paid $1500 it would cost the athletic department $16.2mil per year before any infrastructure expenses associated with the change. Many schools are already losing money so how will this be feasible for them?

Keep in mind that the salary is the least expensive part of doing something like this with any company. In the end this is a way for the Union to nudge their way into the NCAA money cart and they should be told NO!!

Big 10 just signed a media deal what will mean that the schools will split at least 1B a year (just from these rights).

 

[hoopsfan22]

Big 10 just signed a media deal what will mean that the schools will split at least 1B a year (just from these rights).

Wow they will be swimming in money while we get a $4 million check for being in the Big East lol.

 

[Ozimoto]

Forget the ethical and moral parts of the discussion. If the "student" athletes are allowed to unionize, the only sports being played on college campuses will be club sports within 10 years. A statement of opinion, not fact. I'm sure others will disagree, but I don't see this ending well for college athletics and the vast majority of college athletes.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

A legal battle that would open the door for some college athletes to form unions took an expected, yet significant step forward Thursday when the National Labor Relations Board issued a complaint against the NCAA, the Pac-12, and USC for unfair labor practices.

If athletes -- this complaint applies only to football, men's basketball, and women's basketball players -- are viewed as employees under the National Labor Relations Act, they would have the ability to organize and collectively bargain against schools for a larger share of the billions of dollars of revenue generated by college sports each year as well as other workplace protections.

NLRB files complaint vs. NCAA, Pac-12, USC

The National Labor Relations Board issued a complaint against the NCAA, the Pac-12 and USC for unfair labor practices.

www.espn.com

This was a much talked about prospect several years ago and some of us felt that NIL coming along derailed the momentum.

 

[socal613ws]

AD just resigned, wow I did not think this was a huge deal but apparently it might be

 

[ccwarrior]

The revenue-making and olympic sports haven’t been “amateur” for many decades.

 

[Carnac]

This was a much talked about prospect several years ago and some of us felt that NIL coming along derailed the momentum.

NIL will make (in my opinion) WCBB much much different than we know it now. We may not recognize it in 5 years. Greed will turn what is a beautiful thing in Division 1 men's and women's college basketball into an unlevel playing field if nothing else. Don't be surprised to see the rich get richer like Kim Mulkey and LSU did this spring. I can see two tiers of teams if you will, i.e. UConn, Notre Dame, Stanford, Tennessee, The Carolinas, LSU, USC, UCLA, Maryland, Louisville, Texas, Duke, etc., that will continue to vie for and attract the top recruits every year.

The smaller "unranked" non-P5 schools (small state colleges and directional schools...Bowling Green, SE Louisianna, etc.) that are not attractive to the top 100 ranked recruits in high school classes because of their inability to compete with the MAJOR programs with respect to NIL opportunities for their players. Recruits will almost always follow the money at the direction of their parents, coaches, friends, and influencers. Those other programs will get the "leftovers" unwanted by the top 25 or so programs.....the 4th & 5th best players on high school teams.

 

[hoopsfan22]

Forget the ethical and moral parts of the discussion. If the "student" athletes are allowed to unionize, the only sports being played on college campuses will be club sports within 10 years. A statement of opinion, not fact. I'm sure others will disagree, but I don't see this ending well for college athletics and the vast majority of college athletes.

Maybe that's for the better in the long run. Schools can get back to being just schools like every where else in the world.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Those other programs will get the "leftovers" unwanted by the top 25 or so programs.....the 4th & 5th best players on high school teams.

And if those players turn out better than expected, they will just transfer to bigger programs when the time comes.

 

[Cuango]

Those who didn't play a D-1 sport before the loosened rules need do some research or talk to those who did before making snap judgments

Cause they couldn’t possibly know what they’re talking about? There are many experts in virtually every discipline, field, profession, subject etc who never actually did or participated in, the subject under discussion. I’m not one of them, though I too think this is a very bad idea, but I am unsure what leads you to conclude that whatever post precipitated your comment was, in fact, based on a “snap judgement”?
I personally believe all these changes/decisions leading toward “professionalizing” college sports are a bad idea and are likely to end up destroying the very thing they are (ostensibly) trying to improve.
For example, I think this transfer portal idea is a disaster that will continue to get worse in the coming years.
Better they spend their energy improving the current system as it is/was and, most importantly, eliminate the corruption that is rife within the NCAA itself!

 

[Bone Dog]

I personally believe all these changes/decisions leading toward “professionalizing” college sports are a bad idea and are likely to end up destroying the very thing they are (ostensibly) trying to improve.

I share your concern. But I'm not sure this move is intended, ostensibly or otherwise, to improve college sports. It's just the logic of a legal and a market process playing itself out as is inevitable.

 

[Carnac]

Friends, this is going to get much worse before it gets better. I'm wondering what will be the tipping point, and how far down the road it will come before the powers that be will say...."ENOUGH."

 

[ccwarrior]

Cause they couldn’t possibly know what they’re talking about? There are many experts in virtually every discipline, field, profession, subject etc who never actually did or participated in, the subject under discussion. I’m not one of them, though I too think this is a very bad idea, but I am unsure what leads you to conclude that whatever post precipitated your comment was, in fact, based on a “snap judgement”?
I personally believe all these changes/decisions leading toward “professionalizing” college sports are a bad idea and are likely to end up destroying the very thing they are (ostensibly) trying to improve.
For example, I think this transfer portal idea is a disaster that will continue to get worse in the coming years.
Better they spend their energy improving the current system as it is/was and, most importantly, eliminate the corruption that is rife within the NCAA itself!

I think you know that is not what I said. If you never saw the system from the inside you might have a different view of how the student-athletes in the major sports were exploited (even with the scholarship benefits taken into account.) Believe me or not, but even in the 1980’s PAC-10 the idea that we were students first was a sham.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

I think you know that is not what I said. If you never saw the system from the inside you might have a different view of how the student-athletes in the major sports were exploited (even with the scholarship benefits taken into account.) Believe me or not, but even in the 1980’s PAC-10 the idea that we were students first was a sham.

I'm not sure it can be disputed that college athletes are exploited for the gain of the institution.

My argument is 2-fold -

First, if student athletes are to be treated fairly and fairly compensated - well, why on earth should a school offer the athletic opportunities? Let's just have athletes go from high school to pro or semi-pro leagues. Considering how much of college athletics is supported by your and my tax dollar, why would I want some of my tax dollar to go to compensating what amounts to a semi-pro team at my local University? I really don't want that any more than I want to make tax donations to the nearest NBA or NFL team.

And, if fair compensation is what the student athlete wants, then they should want to divorce from academic institutions. You already note that athletes are not students first - and some, at least, really are not students at all (while others certainly are). Form leagues as I note above, raise the money to pay Geno and Nick Saban and all the rest the ridiculous salaries they earn and go from there.

 

[Bone Dog]

I'm not sure it can be disputed that college athletes are exploited for the gain of the institution.

My argument is 2-fold -

First, if student athletes are to be treated fairly and fairly compensated - well, why on earth should a school offer the athletic opportunities? Let's just have athletes go from high school to pro or semi-pro leagues. Considering how much of college athletics is supported by your and my tax dollar, why would I want some of my tax dollar to go to compensating what amounts to a semi-pro team at my local University? I really don't want that any more than I want to make tax donations to the nearest NBA or NFL team.

And, if fair compensation is what the student athlete wants, then they should want to divorce from academic institutions. You already note that athletes are not students first - and some, at least, really are not students at all (while others certainly are). Form leagues as I note above, raise the money to pay Geno and Nick Saban and all the rest the ridiculous salaries they earn and go from there.

I can’t disagree with what you say, though I think looking at the history of the phenomenon can make it easier to see what’s truly questionable about it. I mean, before college athletics was a big money proposition, we might ask, what sense did it make to schools to have athletic programs in the first place? However we answer this question, now that college athletics is a very big money operation, we should ask, does this answer still make sense? This is also a dual history, since professional sports evolved at times in tension with college sports and at times in tandem with them.

And at some point, it made sense to go beyond merely sponsoring athletic activities and to offer athletic scholarships. What was the justification schools made to themselves for this move? Here too, comparing the reasons schools gave a century ago to what they tell themselves now is likely to be revealing.

 

[Sifaka]

Should a judge, or panel of appeals court judges, determine that athletic “scholarships” are employee compensation, then all hell will break loose in academe. Am I being an alarmist?

You decide.

Consider the double b-flat contrabass clarinet player. I used to be one of that strange breed of humanoid, and numerous colleges and universities offered me full scholarships to attend their institutions and make groaning sounds on that contraption.

Now then, if “scholarships” “paid” to basketball players are employee compensation, then “scholarships” awarded to musicians must also be employee pay, and the symphonic band and orchestra members will able to unionize and strike for free cork grease, reeds, rosin, strings, etc. Oh, the horror of it all!