Alleging that those entities are conspiring to misclassify football and basketball players as non-employees, thereby denying them the right to unionize. Restrictions on athletes’ social media activity are also cited.
Public schools are treated differently than private schools under federal labor law, which is why they cited USC, a private school, in the complaint. But if the Pac-12 is found to employ athletes, that could open up state schools in that conference to similar challenges. And of course the NCAA covers everyone, coast to coast.
This ain’t rocket science. The kids who work in the library or cafeteria at UA are both employees and students. As was I when I worked for the sports information office.
The old way was illegal, folks. It isn’t coming back. I wish the NCAA and the schools would plan for the new reality instead of wasting time begging Congress to bail them out.
As I view many things differently, the counter point is yes, please have government get involved. The time they spend screwing up collegiate athletics is time they might not be spending on screwing up the country.
The NCAA operated its sports plantations without government interference for decades. It was athletes asking for redress (sort of a constitutional right) that put all this in motion. College athletics had plenty of warning and plenty of time to fix it.
But the cotton pickers will want something else and the cotton quality in my underwear will wrinkle easier resulting in discomfort while sitting under the spreading shade in the pecan grove listening to the pickers sing.
Thanks for posting this. I’m no fan of regulation but it has a place. In this case, a multi-billion dollar operation has conspired for years to keep money and benefits from flowing to individuals who, by almost any standard, are more professional athlete than student: most of these kids barely get two weeks off per year from required team activities.
The only reason high schools aren’t subject is there isn’t as much money involved. High school sports are year-round and you won’t play unless you’re exceptionally gifted and/or participate in off-season workouts.
If this is implemented a very real result could be smaller and mid major programs could not afford to keep their programs going. Many bleed dollars (see Ark State) and would have to tax other students to raise the money. Which could also result in less opportunities for kids to play above High School. I doubt it comes to that but it’s within the realm of possibility.
