You Are Not Employees
So the Northwestern football players want to unionize?
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.
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.
If I were the President of Northwestern I’d say ok, we will honor your scholarships for their full four years but as of today our football program no longer exists.
Colleges have wasted hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars on these programs.
Billions, really.
End them.
Makes Ya Barf, People, Politics | Mr. Bingley | 
January 29, 2014 8:01 am
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I think it’s illegal to shut down a program as retaliation for an NLRB action. With this administration, you can bet that they will be allowed to do this, whether it makes sense or not.
And college football players should be paid. They bring in tons of money for schools and only get a scholarship that is far less than they would get were they paid a salary.
Unions are bad, universally, and I’ve no sympathy for them. But I do think college athletes are taken advantage of, especially in football.
I’d honor their scholarships for their full 4 years or whatever the balance happens to be and I’d pay the coaching staffs for the next 4 years too, so there’d be no basis it seems to me for a retaliation complaint.
Assuming a full-ride scholarship to these colleges you are looking at the equivalent of a minimum $50k+ tax free per year, which is probably, what, $65k or so pre-tax? I hardly see that as 19 yr olds being taken advantage of.
If they pay them they will just blow the money and still be in the desperate straits they so often claim. I saw one claiming he couldn’t make the payment on his apartment and that it was tough to buy enough food. I think it is called a dorm and a cafeteria…
Honestly I’d have more sympathy for semi-literate athletes at big mediocre state schools who wouldn’t meet any reasonable academic admission criteria and who are basically being exploited as gladiators; these poor saps are incapable of benefiting from a college education anyway as they lack college-level skills and preparation. But Northwestern is an elite private and those players are getting a sweet deal. I don’t think they’re getting exploited. They probably got in over more qualified students, and got a free ride, because they can kick and catch a ball. They need to be quiet and be grateful.
Any college that needs a football program to be respected and thrive doesn’t deserve to survive. Big money college sports are totally corrupting of academics and need to be rooted out.