For the record, my son, his wife and a brother-in-law of mine are all Northwestern alums. My daughter-in-law is near completing a Phd. at UCLA in college administration and has strong views on the unionization topic (and most other things). She pretty much detests big time college sports, but surprised me by being in support of the NU football players on general principles totally disconnected from the fact that it was her college that made the move. I don't think she ever went to an NU game.
One thing about laws, is that they can be changed. So creating tax exceptions for scholarship athletes is always a possibility should the IRS deem athletic scholarships taxable. Congress as a whole does love it's sports and this could be the vehicle for bringing the parties together
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I believe the problem with trying to limit unionization to football and men's hoops is that the premise of unionization is based on the fact that the athletes in question are on athletic scholarship - coupled at least for now with the fact that they are in revenue producing sports. Does that mean that any sport for which there is a spectator admission charge is deemed a revenue sport? Hockey, soccer etc? Revenue does not guarantee employer profit, and never is a factor in a traditional labor union setting when it comes to the right of employees to organize. If the revenue aspect is removed from the equation, does that mean that athletes in sports that don't charge spectators (not sure which those are in most places) but assuming it's sports like lacrosse, field hockey, and less contact type sports like tennis and golf, can be denied the right to organize and are thus unable to receive long term benefits such as would cover injuries received while playing the sport, while the football players are covered? Heck, bowling can produce long term disabilities.
Normally I favor the ability of workers to organize, but I think defining college athletes as being involved in a sort of activity protected by NLRB laws I don't like in principle aside from the several issues discussed here such as Title IX. These NU kids may be in the process of killing the golden scholarship goose for thousands of kids coming along. I don't see the University of Chicago regretting that is got out of big time sports and the Big Ten decades and decades ago. The reality is, the world can live without big time college sports and many schools might decide that is the right course for them. Of course if it screws up the ACC, maybe the Big East will rise again.
