Over the past year, unions have become a major issue nationwide with three of the largest auto companies on strike over contract negotiations involving the United Auto Workers union.
Unions could quickly become a trending topic in another industry nationwide.
What happened: When many sports fans think of NCAA basketball, their attention likely turns to March Madness and the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments.
College basketball fans’ attention may turn to the question of what unionization means soon after the Dartmouth men’s basketball team’s historic vote on Tuesday.
The basketball team voted 13-2 to join the local service employees union. According to ESPN, this is the first time a group of college athletes have acted as school employees. The Dartmouth basketball team hopes it isn’t the last team to take action and is encouraging other Ivy League schools to do the same.
Dartmouth filed an appeal Tuesday and could take the matter to the U.S. Supreme Court in the next few years.
“For Ivy League students who are collegiate athletes, academics are of primary importance and athletic activity is part of the educational experience,” the school said. “Classifying these students as employees simply because they play basketball is as unprecedented as it is inaccurate.”
The Dartmouth basketball team’s move comes years after football players at Northwestern University attempted to unionize.
One notable difference is that Dartmouth is a private school and Northwestern is a public school. According to ESPN, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which is involved in the case, currently has no jurisdiction over public school athletes.
The Dartmouth basketball team struggled during the 2023-2024 season, posting a 6-21 overall record and a 2-12 conference record in the Ivy League.
The good news is that the decision to unionize may be a good luck charm as the basketball team defeated Harvard 76-69 on Tuesday night. The victory ended a nine-game losing streak for the basketball team.
Tuesday’s win was the final game of the season for Dartmouth, which did not qualify for the Ivy League Conference tournament, which is reserved for the four best teams in the conference.
Related link: Unions benefit all workers, not just members, groundbreaking Treasury study finds
What’s next: The NCAA faces several legal challenges related to whether athletes are professionals or employees, and the battles could last years.
College sports leaders are pushing Congress to create federal laws to make it clear that college athletes are not employees.
Tuesday’s Dartmouth newscast featured several members of Congress speaking out in support or against the basketball team’s decision.
“Now it’s time for colleges to stop wasting time and money fighting athletes in court and lobbying Congress to revoke athletes’ rights, and instead start negotiating with athletes about revenue sharing, health and safety and more,” the senator said. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said, as shared by the sports writer Pete Nakos.
It was Sen. who spoke out against the basketball team. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), former college football coach.
“This will absolutely kill college sports. You know, last time I looked, they’re not employees. These students are student-athletes,” Tuberville said during an appearance on Fox News, as reported by Sportico.
Tuberville said unionized college athletes, like Dartmouth’s basketball team, could be “killing the goose that lays the golden egg.”
“Unions have ruined our education system across the country.”
Tuberville also suggested in his interview that the involvement of unionized players could lead to teams going on strike before league games.
“They will hold the people who pay the bills hostage.”
Tuberville said the billions of dollars in revenue generated by NCAA sports is reinvested “into the business” each year.
The Athletics Editor Stewart Mandel reacted to the Tuberville article.
“The funny thing about this TV segment is he said ‘they’re not addicted,’ and then about 30 seconds later he said, ‘being an athlete is a full-time job,’” Mandel tweeted.
The case is far from over, but in a few years it could be considered a milestone that changed college sports or, as Tuberville predicts, killed college sports.
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