Photo Credit: Adam Rittenberg/ESPN.com
Huge news for college sports. The National Labor Regional Board has agreed to allow Northwestern University’s football players to create a union. The Board decided the team should be considered employees and that they have the right to unionize.
The debate about whether college players should be compensated for the millions of dollars they make for their respective schools has been a controversial one. Currently, players do not receive any money for playing nor merchandise sales that bear their names. The Labor Board felt the time and commitment players put into practice were related to their performance on the field which should qualify them to form a union.
Northwestern, obviously not happy with today’s ruling, released the following statement, “While we respect the NLRB process and the regional director’s opinion, we disagree with it. Northwestern believes strongly that our student-athletes are not employees, but students. Unionization and collective bargaining are not the appropriate methods to address the concerns raised by student-athletes.” The university plans to appeal the decision.
