Players can unionize - WOW!!!
Just in, NLRB rule, Northwestern football players can unionize. Door open for players to finally get paid to play. NW president says, "he would strongly consider dropping his D1 football program".
Northwestern players get union vote
Updated: March 26, 2014, 3:30 PM ET
By Brian Bennett | ESPN.com
In a potentially game-changing moment for college athletics, the Chicago district of the National Labor Relations Board ruled on Wednesday that Northwestern football players qualify as employees and can unionize.
NLRB regional director Peter Sung Ohr cited the players' time commitment to their sport and that their scholarships were tied directly to their performance as reasons for granting them union rights.
Ohr wrote in his ruling that Wildcats players "fall squarely within the [National Labor Relations] Act's broad definition of 'employee' when one considers the common law definition of 'employee.'"
Ohr ruled that Northwestern players can hold an election on whether they want to be represented by the College Athletes Players Association, which brought the case to the NLRB along with former Wildcats quarterback Kain Colter and the United Steelworkers Union.
Northwestern issued a statement shortly after the ruling saying it would appeal to the full NLRB in Washington.
"While we respect the NLRB process and the regional director's opinion, we disagree with it," the statement read. "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."
CAPA supporters, meanwhile, celebrated the news. Colter tweeted: "This is a HUGE win for ALL college athletes!"
