Northwestern football players unionize?

[RegentDenali]

For the first time in the history of college sports, athletes are asking to be represented by a labor union, taking formal steps on Tuesday to begin the process of being recognized as employees, ESPN's "Outside The Lines" has learned.

Ramogi Huma, president of the National College Players Association, filed a petition in Chicago on behalf of football players at Northwestern University, submitting the form at the regional office of the National Labor Relations Board.

Backed by the United Steelworkers union, Huma also filed union cards signed by an undisclosed number of Northwestern players with the NLRB -- the federal statutory body that recognizes groups that seek collective bargaining rights.

"This is about finally giving college athletes a seat at the table," said Huma, a former UCLA linebacker, who created the NCPA as an advocacy group in 2001. "Athletes deserve an equal voice when it comes to their physical, academic and financial protections."

Huma told "Outside The Lines" that the move to unionize players at Northwestern started with quarterback Kain Colter, who reached out to him last spring and asked for help in giving athletes representation in their effort to improve the conditions under which they play NCAA sports. Colter became a leading voice in regular NCPA-organized conference calls among players from around the country.

In a Sept. 21 game against Maine, Colter wore a black wristband with the hashtag "#APU" -- All Players United -- prominently scrawled in white marker as part of a quiet protest gesture. He was joined that day by about 10 teammates as well as players from Georgia and Georgia Tech. In all, players on seven teams in the five largest conferences displayed the #APU symbol, according to the NCPA.

Huma said he met with Northwestern players over the weekend on campus in Evanston, Ill., and took the next step in creating a collective voice for players. He said Colter introduced him to groups of players that Colter had talked with over the past couple of months about their interest in taking the unprecedented step of asking for union representation.

Outside The Lines -- Northwestern Wildcats football players trying to join labor union - ESPN

 

[Wild Turkey]

This might be the dumbest thing I have ever read regarding college football and that is a HUGE accomplishment.

 

[TigerBait1971]

from the rust belt....shocker...

 

[TexasExes98]

More proof of how spoiled these fucking babies are. They have a sense of entitlement and I blame their shitty parents for it. Fitzgerald had better make them run til he gets tired, or pull every scholarship from anybody that participated in this.

 

[starbigd]

This is just another salvo.

You guys can hate on the kids all you want. But once they have a unified voice college sports as we know it will change forever.

A day of reckoning is coming, most notably for the NCAA. This sort of action is what will kill them, and hopefully give rise to a better organizational body for collegiate athletics.

 

[lilchi721]

Good gosh this isn't the NFL.

 

[TexasExes98]

This is just another salvo.

You guys can hate on the kids all you want. But once they have a unified voice college sports as we know it will change forever.

A day of reckoning is coming, most notably for the NCAA. This sort of action is what will kill them, and hopefully give rise to a better organizational body for collegiate athletics.

What unified voice? They are students, not employees. This is stupid.....

 

[MarkOU]

Quit sports and take out loans and pay your own fucking way.

Somebody needs a reality check on life. Fuck these athletes.

 

[Wazmankg]

Good gosh this isn't the NFL.

It is their free farm system.

 

[WhiteMamba]

thanks OBAMA!!

 

[TexasExes98]

Quit sports and take out loans and pay your own fucking way.

Somebody needs a reality check on life. Fuck these athletes.

THIS RIGHT HERE ^^^^^^^ And I hate agreeing with MarkfuckingOU!!!!

 

[outofyourmind]

Make them actually go to school like the rest of the general student population and most of them will be gone in 1 semester.

 

[john01992]

I dunno.....heres my take on it......

in the old days the players played for an education. They played in front of crowds who received either free tickets or dirt cheap tickets. College football back then was about rallying the campus around the team.

Socrates had a social contract argument between citizen and society. He argued that there was an unwritten between the two that allowed them to coexist for each others mutual benefit.

I believe that there is some form of an unwritten agreement in college football between the athletes & the university/ncaa where they would play as amateur student athletes in exchange the NCAA/universities would respect that status as well.

I grew up in a college family who loved both the academics & athletes schools like SU, PSU & UM had to offer. I always thought that I would be among the last to ever take the "pay the players" side. But it is getting more & more frustrating to defend the NCAA/universities against the student athletes these days. The NCAA/Universities have been distancing themselves from this unwritten agreement more and more and doing so at an ever increasing rate. It has gotten to the point where the NCAA/universities are effectively pimping the student athletes for every dollar possible.

-in the last decade athletic revenue has doubled.

-in the last 2 decades athletic revenue has quadrupled

-today universities now sell a players likeness for big $$$$$ as jersey sales and to videogames. it is such a contradiction when they say a player can't use his name/likeness because he is a student athlete but then they go around and make millions of his name. It sounds a lot like the ncaa is doing this to protect the wallets of their universities not protecting the integrity of the game. It is one thing to do this on a small scale, but this has now grown to become so large scale that it is now a joke

-the concussion epidemic & use of painkillers in the sport has turned college football into a legitimate player safety debate. We now have information about the dangers of the sport that were unknown in the past. With this new information it is perfectly justifiable to say the players should have a union. The front page of the new york times this week was of a 14 year old girl who was already committed to play soccer for texas. That just shows how competitive & insane college athletics have become. You can not trust the ncaa/universities to look out for the safety of athletes when it is in their interests $$$ wise not to do so.

-the whole concept of student athlete is a joke now. studies have shown that football players spend more time on athletics than academics. Now players have to deal with game film & 24/7 media coverage. The academic standards have become a joke. there are disturbing reports out there showing an alarming number of players from BB & FB have 8th grade reading levels......graduation rates that are so pathetic that the ncaa switched to APR because using straight up graduation rate numbers was too embarrassing.

I think the players are doing the right thing here. They are not the ones pushing change, it is the universities/ncaa who already changed the game. I would argue that the NCAA is correct in telling the players that they should keep the old system that has been in place for several decade.....however the NCAA lost all their credibility to say that when they no longer abide by the old system themselves.

 

[cane_man]

This is just another salvo.

You guys can hate on the kids all you want. But once they have a unified voice college sports as we know it will change forever.

A day of reckoning is coming, most notably for the NCAA. This sort of action is what will kill them, and hopefully give rise to a better organizational body for collegiate athletics.

Lmao! Dont you need a job to be in a union? Or are those commie organizations just trying to get their evil fingers in everything now?

 

[Lemon Harang Pie]

It is their free farm system.

Except it isn't.

It's definitely the best way for NFL teams to evaluate football talent but college football is still just a bunch of amateur kids playing football. Those signing union cards are going to regret this till the day they die. They're not employees and won't be getting paid. I don't doubt that a slick talking union rep told them they were all getting Calvin Johnson like contracts but they're not and they're still going to have to pay their union dues.

I wouldn't be shocked if Northwestern drops their football program altogether if the union takes it far enough.

 

[cane_man]

That article quickly killed my support for paying college athletes. Talk about seeing the light in a hurry.

 

[Lemon Harang Pie]

I'm not sure how they can unionize in the first place.

They're not employees.

 

[wiskyisgood12]

Good for them, I guess. But, what's the point? They can unionize, but why should respective universities, conferences and the NCAA as a whole care? The point of a union is to negotiate with the employer for better working conditions, why would the NCAA bother negotiating with them? They have no reason to.

 

[BucksFanInGA]

Y! SPORTS

Who's surprised?

 

[Goldbug]

It costs an average of $34,000/year for a non-resident student living in university housing to attend OU. That's a serious chunk of change for the average American family and OU is dirt cheap compared to a lot of other schools in the NCAA. That's a free ride to get a degree that should make the student even more money later in life. And, for some, it's an opportunity to hone athletic skills that can lead to professional contracts. I have yet to read about any good athlete turning down a scholarship for the privilege of paying his/her own way through school with aid from their parents, loans or other types of scholarships. The very few people at any university lucky enough to be going to school free can kiss my dimpled ass if they feel "exploited". And trust me, the vast majority of students at ANY school are going to seriously resent it if they hear an athlete bitching about how hard he/she has it. Want spending money? Then work during the summer like I did if your parents really can't help you. I'm sick of hearing about how hard athletes have it in school. Wanna trade what you are doing for what I was doing when I was 19 years old? Go hump 80 pounds all day while some fucker is shooting at you and then get back with me.