View Full Version : College players union



Garin
03-26-2014, 04:41 PM
Stunning Ruling: College Athletes Can Unionize | TheBlaze.com (http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/03/26/stunning-ruling-college-athletes-can-unionize/)

The flood gates have just been opened

mugofbeer
03-26-2014, 09:01 PM
I don't see what is so stunning about the decision. The NLRB would let babies unionize if they could. I have my doubts this will hold up in court.

ou48A
03-26-2014, 10:13 PM
I don't see what is so stunning about the decision. The NLRB would let babies unionize if they could. I have my doubts this will hold up in court.
One radio commentator, who is an attorney, said this will eventually be decieded by the US Supreme Court and that they would very likely over turn today's ruling.

Stan Silliman
03-28-2014, 12:20 PM
Stunning to me that this coming from student-athletes at Northwestern University.
I say that because students at NW are a little more privileged than at some other schools.
By that, I mean their tuition is higher, their degrees are worth more, supposedly they get better educated.
This is the disconnect I have.
All student athletes if they get their degree, come out with an education and will better off than the regular
student who gets his degree but has big debts. Less than 6 % of college athletes go on to play pro sports
and of those most careers are less than four years.
At schools like Stanford and Duke and Vanderbilt and Northwestern those degrees cost more and should be worth more.
So to me, students at Northwestern should be more appreciative of their special advantages and be less likely to unionize.

Here's what could happen and makes sense to people wanting to "level the playing field": Make all athletic scholarships equal
For instance, set an average, say $ 40 per year for an athletic scholarship.
If your school charges less than 40K, say like K-State or OU, give the student-athlete the difference in cash.
If your school charges more than 40K, say like Duke or Stanford at 55K, the student-athlete pays the difference.
That levels the playing field but sure rocks the boat at schools like Northwestern.
More than likely, they would drop big time sports and go the way of Chicago University.

mugofbeer
03-28-2014, 01:51 PM
My take is that this is something certain people have been wanting to press for quite some time in the right circumstances. One thing they were looking for was a private school which would not be covered by state law. Players for state schools would be covered by state law.

SoonerDave
03-28-2014, 02:07 PM
The next interesting turn in all this is when the IRS decides that scholarship money is income, and thus taxable.....

mugofbeer
03-28-2014, 02:16 PM
Hmmmmm...wonder if those Northwestern students took that into consideration?

Jersey Boss
03-28-2014, 02:17 PM
So what is the the biggest impact here? No, it is not athletes getting paid a salary. I think what many an athlete would benefit from if the players are recognized as employees would be would be the benefit of workers comp should one get injured while playing for an institution. This is what terrifies the NCAA and member schools.

Of Sound Mind
03-28-2014, 02:48 PM
The next interesting turn in all this is when the IRS decides that scholarship money is income, and thus taxable.....
The law of unintended consequences...

mugofbeer
03-28-2014, 11:27 PM
So what is the the biggest impact here? No, it is not athletes getting paid a salary. I think what many an athlete would benefit from if the players are recognized as employees would be would be the benefit of workers comp should one get injured while playing for an institution. This is what terrifies the NCAA and member schools.

Why not? If they are to be deemed employees and can, therefore, be unionized, then that useless $40,000/year education they are getting FOR FREE should maybe be taxable. Why just stop at Workman's Comp? If a player gets injured, the player still gets full use of the scholarship. If they can bargain collectively, they can start demanding pay, better facilities, cuter girls......

Chadanth
03-29-2014, 05:17 AM
In my opinion, this will be short lived. Athletes are in college for only a few years, why would they, in large numbers, worry about getting involved in union activities? How will many of them pay their union dues? What about lesser known sports? Women's sports? If they're technically employees, will that make their scholarships and benefits taxable?

Garin
03-29-2014, 07:44 AM
In my opinion, this will be short lived. Athletes are in college for only a few years, why would they, in large numbers, worry about getting involved in union activities? How will many of them pay their union dues? What about lesser known sports? Women's sports? If they're technically employees, will that make their scholarships and benefits taxable?

The question is are they employees or student athletes? If its the latter the answer is no its not taxable.

Of Sound Mind
03-29-2014, 08:11 AM
The question is are they employees or student athletes? If its the latter the answer is no its not taxable.
And if it's the latter, then they are not entitled to form a union, which is what makes this ruling so incredible and more impactful (in so many unintentional ways).

Garin
03-29-2014, 10:10 AM
http://youtu.be/VITYq6WSPQM

I had seen the documentary almost a year ago, thought some of you might want to watch it. Its full of a lot of good information pertaining to the subject.

SoonerDave
03-29-2014, 11:00 AM
While I don't suspect that the face of college athletics is going to change in the next year or two, I think its naive to think that the Northwestern ruling, the O'Bannon lawsuit, or the other suit filed just recently are simply going to disappear with no consequence.

It is outrageous, even disgusting, that the NCAA and its member institutions have been able to make millions in revenue via the likenesses of highly skilled athletes while simultaneously dismissing even the notion that those players should be compensated for what is arguably the most fundamental form of intellectual property around - your likeness.

Read any blog about professional photography, and it won't take long to find one about the basics of starting a photography business involves getting releases and permission to use people's images in their work. It's fundamental. Yet somehow the NCAA tries to create the impermeable wall of insulation around themselves, painted with the piety of "amateur athletics." There's no small irony in that notion, either. "We the line of last defense for amateur athletics, but pardon us while we go cash our checks from the last rights contracts..."

The argument that the college scholarship is their compensation doesn't hold water here in my book, because once they're on campus, they're not being recruited anymore. Yet the schools, NCAA, EA sports (et al) make money continuously.

The presence of Title IX has made this situation even worse, because the creation of a supplementary stipend structure could have formed a legitimate foundation through which this entire mess could have been avoided. But just as Emmert found out this last year, small schools made it clear they can't afford giving such a stipend to one sport, because they know they'll have to give it to ALL of them.

How is this all going to work out? It seems to me that the NCAA as we know it cannot continue in perpetuity. We've all heard about reform and reorganization pending, but its clear somehow that if college athletics that so many of us enjoy are going to persist in any form over the long haul, something in the way funding and revenues are allocated and distributed has to change at a fundamental level, and best by some sort of negotiated restructuring. Conversely, if the O'Bannon, NLRB, and other issues force the matter, the inevitable court-imposed result will be the ugliest one of all.

boitoirich
03-29-2014, 11:49 AM
SoonerDave, I agree with you about the NCAA needing to make recompense for their greed and hypocrisy. Like you, I don't think the scholarship issue is likely to become much of a factor (at any rate, Congress would be motivated to codify a tax break for scholarship athletes so that expensive schools and cheaper ones competed on equal footing). . Even if the players in Division I unionize and begin to receive pay, in the name of fairness that pay will likely be in the form of a stipend. This would prevent schools from essentially buying players. As for remuneration for use of images on television/games and jersey sales, escrow accounts seem to be the way to go.

Jay Bilas has an interesting take on how unionized scholarship athletes would look and compete. I don't agree with everything he has to say about it, but he's well informed (as always) and it's a side worth listening to. Jay Bilas On Northwestern Players Unionizing - ESPN Video - ESPN (http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=10681528)

Jersey Boss
03-31-2014, 01:50 PM
Why not? If they are to be deemed employees and can, therefore, be unionized, then that useless $40,000/year education they are getting FOR FREE should maybe be taxable. Why just stop at Workman's Comp? If a player gets injured, the player still gets full use of the scholarship. If they can bargain collectively, they can start demanding pay, better facilities, cuter girls......

Presently scholarships are issued on a year by year basis. Athlete gets hurt, no scholarship, no workers comp, no future.

ou48A
03-31-2014, 02:06 PM
Presently scholarships are issued on a year by year basis. Athlete gets hurt, no scholarship, no workers comp, no future.

When players are injured to a point where they can no longer preform as an athlete a university should honor their scholarship.... I know that OU does this in almost every case and many other university’s do the same because it's usually the right thing to do for the player.
SI indicated that at least in several cases osu did not honer athletic scholarships after players were injured and could no longer preform well.... IMHO this should change.

I would also like to see the NCAA become more liberal in granting a 6th year of eligibility to injured athletes.