With support from the United Steelworkers, college football players at Northwestern University announced plans Jan. 28 to organize a union. Cementing the effort, the National College Players Association filed a petition with the regional office of the National Labor Relations Board. It is the first attempt in recent memory in which student athletes asserted their rights as labor in a collegiate system that earns billions for universities and millions in coaches’ salaries, but leaves students with no voice.
Former Northwestern quarterback Kain Colter, representative of the College Athlete Players Association union organizing drive, tells media this is a basic issue of fairness to young people who put their lives in the hands of schools. A NCPA survey released last year found 86 percent of student athletes live in poverty. Right-wing media outlets have jumped on the story as one of greedy student players seeking compensation for their play. Yet the NCPA says this matter has nothing to do with pay, but with justice and basic protections student players are denied.
Among the demands of the union drive are for the NCAA to do more to minimize brain trauma risks; to raise scholarship amounts to equal a college’s cost of attendance; to require schools to cover the cost of sports-related injuries; to block universities from using a permanent injury suffered during athletics as a reason to reduce/eliminate a scholarship; and to protect student athletes from retaliation by coaches for school transfers by permitting them to be granted athletic release without penalty.
Casual fans may not know how tightly football departments control student athletes’ lives and futures. Many students are promised full athletic scholarships, but end up getting stuck with additional school expenses, and can’t transfer schools without interference and added costs. Schools are not required to care for students competing in athletics under the school’s banner, so a student injured in practice or a drill can be left to pay thousand of dollars in their own medical bills. And those who are injured have no protections if a university decides to eliminate the student’s scholarship due to injury.
In contrast, college football is an extremely lucrative business. Forbes magazine estimates the top 25 universities rake in billions each year, with a school like Ohio State pulling in over $56 million in revenue annually from football, while the University of Texas draws in over $100 million. In most instances, student athletes get scholarships and other education deferments. However, the vast majority of schools do not have profitable athletics programs, putting student athletes in further danger. Given how few become professional athletes, the risks to their futures, and the lack of commitment from schools, is considerable.
“The real issue ultimately derives from the NFL’s exploitation of the amateur intercollegiate football system for its minor league player development system,” Vanderbilt University economist John Vrooman told CBS News. The NCAA, not surprisingly, has come out in opposition to the drive. All progressive people should support the unionization of college football.
