Labor board: Northwestern University football players can unionize

[Rogah]

The Conferences do not have that authority either. The SEC cannot compel A&M to cancel their program any more than the Sun Belt can force Texas State.

The SEC and the NCAA can compel Texas A&M to follow a certain set of rules if they want to belong to those organizations. Fact is the NCAA is a monopoly, but there's is no legal reason that the ~70 schools of the big-6 conferences couldn't form their own athletic association with their own rules. I actually think such a thing is eventually going to happen. I don't mean a completely separate NCAA, but I do believe there will be a splitting of the rules, i.e. the big-6 conference allow players to be paid and all the rest don't. Then we can watch semi-pro football in the big-6 and true amateurism in the rest.

 

[erod]

This is fearmongering. You are talking out of your butt as you are not privy to the accounting and this notion that colleges cannot pay their players a fair wage and still make money is laughable. You act as if college athletics even including all the lesser sports is teetering on the brink of insolvency. It's absurd.

This opens a HUGE can of worms. This would give a booster unlimited means to pay an athlete whatever they wanted to. That would lead to an enormous disparity in talent among the schools as Texas and Ohio State set up arrangements totaling $200 million a year in payouts, while Boise State players get virtually nothing in comparison.

An unintended consequence of all this is that a scholarship could be ruled as compensation, which would be taxable income. How many of these kids' families can afford $15-20K a year in taxes because of that scholarship at Notre Dame? The starting left guard isn't getting an endorsement deal from Under Armour, and if he does, that becomes taxable, too.

This isn't a political forum, but unions are the only reason outsourcing is as big a problem as it is. To pretend otherwise is pure denial. And if this is upheld (3 of the 5 members of the Court of Appeals are Obama appointees and are pro-union), the ripple effect over the next 5 years will be astounding.

Basically, collegiate athletics will end. The O'Bannon case against the NCAA for using college likenesses in video games and promotions, in addition to the upcoming concussion lawsuits, will make athletics too rich of a game for the vast majority of schools.

In the end, there'll be a super conference consisting of only the biggest schools. There'll be no South Florida or Boise State or Texas Tech. I predict a dissolution of non-revenue sports altogether, which includes pretty much every women's sport.

Unions do this. Look at what a desolate sewer Detroit is, with unpayable debt and miles of abandoned buildings downtown. New Jersey, too, as well as much of Ohio.

I think this will lead to an AAU-like minor-league sports system eventually. The draft will cease altogether, and players will be signed as they are in the English Premier League. Such an overhead will result in owners having to go with team sponsors, so it'll say "Fly Emirates" across the front of Romo's jersey. College athletics is what's keeping all that at bay.

This is the beginning of the end, folks.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

Here is an interesting question. If this becomes a wave in College Athletics, does this effectively spell the end of the SEC dominance in College Football and to a lessor extent, the Big 12? I believe that all but WV are Right To Work States which means that they can not Unionize.

 

[Doomsday101]

Here is an interesting question. If this becomes a wave in College Athletics, does this effectively spell the end of the SEC dominance in College Football and to a lessor extent, the Big 12? I believe that all but WV are Right To Work States which means that they can not Unionize.

One question I have if you are a player attending Northwestern and you don't want to join the union should they be able to force you to do so?

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

One question I have if you are a player attending Northwestern and you don't want to join the union should they be able to force you to do so?

Another good question. Something else to be considered is, since this only applies to 17 schools, currently, will Northwestern be shown the door in the Big 10 if the rest of the Big 10 does not adopt Unionization?

 

[erod]

Another good question. Something else to be considered is, since this only applies to 17 schools, currently, will Northwestern be shown the door in the Big 10 if the rest of the Big 10 does not adopt Unionization?

And when this gets started in state schools, which it will, how will it be handled in non-union versus union states?

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Here is an interesting question. If this becomes a wave in College Athletics, does this effectively spell the end of the SEC dominance in College Football and to a lessor extent, the Big 12? I believe that all but WV are Right To Work States which means that they can not Unionize.

Right to work prevents closed shop. It does not prevent organization. Seeing that it is an interstate enterprise I will allow you to guess which government has jurisdiction anyway.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

This opens a HUGE can of worms. This would give a booster unlimited means to pay an athlete whatever they wanted to. That would lead to an enormous disparity in talent among the schools as Texas and Ohio State set up arrangements totaling $200 million a year in payouts, while Boise State players get virtually nothing in comparison.

An unintended consequence of all this is that a scholarship could be ruled as compensation, which would be taxable income. How many of these kids' families can afford $15-20K a year in taxes because of that scholarship at Notre Dame? The starting left guard isn't getting an endorsement deal from Under Armour, and if he does, that becomes taxable, too.

This isn't a political forum, but unions are the only reason outsourcing is as big a problem as it is. To pretend otherwise is pure denial. And if this is upheld (3 of the 5 members of the Court of Appeals are Obama appointees and are pro-union), the ripple effect over the next 5 years will be astounding.

Basically, collegiate athletics will end. The O'Bannon case against the NCAA for using college likenesses in video games and promotions, in addition to the upcoming concussion lawsuits, will make athletics too rich of a game for the vast majority of schools.

In the end, there'll be a super conference consisting of only the biggest schools. There'll be no South Florida or Boise State or Texas Tech. I predict a dissolution of non-revenue sports altogether, which includes pretty much every women's sport.

Unions do this. Look at what a desolate sewer Detroit is, with unpayable debt and miles of abandoned buildings downtown. New Jersey, too, as well as much of Ohio.

I think this will lead to an AAU-like minor-league sports system eventually. The draft will cease altogether, and players will be signed as they are in the English Premier League. Such an overhead will result in owners having to go with team sponsors, so it'll say "Fly Emirates" across the front of Romo's jersey. College athletics is what's keeping all that at bay.

This is the beginning of the end, folks.

Dear lord do you know how to fearmonger. NO MORE DRAFT. NO MORE COLLEGE FOOTBALL! THEY MIGHT HAVE TO PAY TAXES!

The answer to this issue is collective bargaining. The same solution as its been to every other national sport. The solution is not to collude so that students earn a huge windfall for their indenturing masters.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

Right to work prevents closed shop. It does not prevent organization. Seeing that it is an interstate enterprise I will allow you to guess which government has jurisdiction anyway.

It's pretty simple really, State and Local Government has jurisdiction.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

It's pretty simple really, State and Local Government has jurisdiction.

So you think labor issues for a team that travels across the country will come from there as will their recruits, will be goverened by local and state laws?

By that logic how do you figure all Dallas Cowboys and Arizona Cardinals players are in the NFLPA despite right to work statutes in both Texas and Arizona?

 

[erod]

Dear lord do you know how to fearmonger. NO MORE DRAFT. NO MORE COLLEGE FOOTBALL! THEY MIGHT HAVE TO PAY TAXES!

The answer to this issue is collective bargaining. The same solution as its been to every other national sport. The solution is not to collude so that students earn a huge windfall for their indenturing masters.

Playing for a university is a tremendous privilege that very few people have the opportunity to realize. Or, at least it used to be.

Most of these athletes would never walk past a university, let alone attend one, without this generous opportunity being provided. And none of them are required to play and attend if they don't want to.

And this will absolutely kill college sports, especially after O'Bannon and the concussion lawsuits are finished. That's not fear mongering. That's understanding the way things have always gone.

Compare the 1980 Olympic hockey team to what you just witnessed a couple of months ago. Not even the same event anymore. It's just an NHL all-star tournament.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

So you think labor issues for a team that travels across the country will come from there as will their recruits, will be goverened by local and state laws?

By that logic how do you figure all Dallas Cowboys and Arizona Cardinals players are in the NFLPA despite right to work statutes in both Texas and Arizona?

Yes, I believe that they will be governed by individual State Laws. Pro Sports are not educational institutions.

 

[erod]

So you think labor issues for a team that travels across the country will come from there as will their recruits, will be goverened by local and state laws?

By that logic how do you figure all Dallas Cowboys and Arizona Cardinals players are in the NFLPA despite right to work statutes in both Texas and Arizona?

Because both teams are merely franchises of a single corporation based in New York.

By the way, the Cowboys players are taxed on the road in the states they play according to those state tax laws. So Romo makes more money at a home game than when he plays in Philadelphia.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Because both teams are merely franchises of a single corporation based in New York.

By the way, the Cowboys players are taxed on the road in the states they play according to those state tax laws. So Romo makes more money at a home game than when he plays in Philadelphia.

Sure, but the NFL while a corporation is considered a trust of independent firms just as the NCAA is being viewed now.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

Sure, but the NFL while a corporation is considered a trust of independent firms just as the NCAA is being viewed now.

I don't think this is the case. If it were, then the ruling that came down yesterday would be applicable for all Universities but it's not. It's only applicable to the 17 Private Universities.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Yes, I believe that they will be governed by individual State Laws. Pro Sports are not educational institutions.

So what law exempts schools from federal law? Per se they fall under interstate commerce.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

I don't think this is the case. If it were, then the ruling that came down yesterday would be applicable for all Universities but it's not. It's only applicable to the 17 Private Universities.

Have you read the fining of the NLRB? If you haven't then making assumptions as to its finding, ie that they are prohibitive, is baseless.

You are grasping at straws.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

Have you read the fining of the NLRB? If you haven't then making assumptions as to its finding, ie that they are prohibitive, is baseless.

You are grasping at straws.

No, I have not but since it appears you have, perhaps you can tell us what the findings say. Keep in mind that the NLRB only concludes that they can try to Unionize. Not that they will Unionize.

Please, educate me on what the findings tell us.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Playing for a university is a tremendous privilege that very few people have the opportunity to realize. Or, at least it used to be.

Most of these athletes would never walk past a university, let alone attend one, without this generous opportunity being provided. And none of them are required to play and attend if they don't want to.

And this will absolutely kill college sports, especially after O'Bannon and the concussion lawsuits are finished. That's not fear mongering. That's understanding the way things have always gone.

Compare the 1980 Olympic hockey team to what you just witnessed a couple of months ago. Not even the same event anymore. It's just an NHL all-star tournament.

Sorry but the various conferences are not going to go insolvent. Sorry but the multi billion dollar industry will survive having to pay their liabilities and labor just like every other industry. Some very well might fail but since when is this country a free ride for failure?

As for your patronizing tone, I think its up to the student athlete to self determine. If they think $40k a year is 'generous' then so be it but there is a finite value of education and the scholarships the NCAA offers and not everyone thinks it 'generous.'

Privilege? I think you misunderstand leverage. Teams fight over recruits and they still would.

1980s hockey pitted much David vs Goliath as communist states were able to circumvent the professional exclusions so when kids are beating veterans it is exciting but for the most part it was lopsided outcomes.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

No, I have not but since it appears you have, perhaps you can tell us what the findings say. Keep in mind that the NLRB only concludes that they can try to Unionize. Not that they will Unionize.

Please, educate me on what the findings tell us.

I don't claim to make many specific claims but there are overarching realities.

I expect the next step will be for one of these kids to sue the NCAA similar to what Brees, et al did to the NFL a couple of years ago when the NFL repeatedly tried to block the dissolution of the union. A kid might not do it but I bet you one of them does.

Once the NCAA is touched with antitrust scrutiny, they will want the players to unionize so that they can be shielded from antitrust via a CBA. Its a tried and true outcome for every other league.