Northwestern football players unionize?

[gohusk]

Why is everyone so hung up on the strike thing? They're obviously not going to strike because their scholarships would be instantly pulled. Did anyone ever think that the players wanted a little bit of a collective say about how a billion dollar industry that they're a key part of might be the reason behind this?

 

[Hornsstampede2.0]

I cannot wait until they are TAXED.


If they want to be considered employees, then they will have to pay taxes eventually on the value of the compensation (scholarship+food+tutors etc)


The whole union idea will quickly cool off if they are suddenly getting 10-15K bills from Uncle Sam.


The courts are already at work trying to define what could in theory be taxable.

 

[amszete]

According to Forbes, Northwestern's football program brought in $22,704,959 in revenue in 2013 (third smallest in the B1G). Meanwhile, the school is forgoing $45,120 in tuition per scholarship player. Assuming 85 scholarship players, correct me if I'm wrong on that number, that would come to $3,835,200. If you include room and board, which I believe most schools do, you can add another $1 million to that number. So, expenses from scholarships would consume about 20% of the profit generated by the football program. Maybe that's a bit low, but you have to remember that Northwestern, while near the bottom of their conference, is still in one of the most profitable conferences in terms of football in the country. At the same time, Northwestern has one of the highest tuition rates you can find. Factor in marketing, cost of hosting games, recruiting expenses, travel, coach salaries and you don't have a ton left over.

This really is a tricky problem. If you want to go the route of each player making what they generate in revenue, prepare for every single player to go to Texas, Alabama, Michigan, Notre Dame and USC. But it seems to be heading somewhere in that direction with this ruling. I'm not sure how it's going to unfold.

And everything you posted, doesn't even get to the "non-revenue generating sports" that are able to exist and offer scholarships because of the football program.

Exactly. Plus, expect the gap between remaining D-1 schools and the rest to get that much wider as well.

 

[potzer25]

stop considering the tuition part - it's obvious these kids are, for the most part, NOT student-athletes. they are mercenaries.

 

[Irish7478]

stop considering the tuition part - it's obvious these kids are, for the most part, NOT student-athletes. they are mercenaries.

Some schools don't push the kids to graduate, others do. That's why some schools have graduation rates over 90% while others have graduation rates under 50%.