On the eve of a historic vote at Northwestern University, where college football players will decide for the first time whether they want to form a labor union, the National Collegiate Athletic Association is set to take action on Thursday on a handful of proposals aimed at providing new benefits to big-time athletes.
The moves—which include allowing wealthier colleges to increase the value of their scholarships, insure athletes against career-ending injuries, and provide additional meals for players—were in the works before the union idea came about.
But the threat of unionization has led dozens of colleges to examine their own treatment of players and to consider new ways of helping them, regardless of what actions the NCAA takes.
“A whole lot more people are deciding to do better—and if anything, they’ll ask for forgiveness and not permission,” said Gene Marsh, a lawyer at Jackson Lewis and former chair of the NCAA’s Division I Committee on Infractions. “In the current political climate, they’re thinking they won’t get a lot of pushback.”
One idea gaining momentum: offering enhanced health insurance for players so their parents don’t have to cover as much. Colleges are also expected to begin providing better medical monitoring of athletes during their playing days and additional resources for academic and career counseling.
Many colleges already provide some of the benefits that the NCAA is expected to endorse this week, including financial assistance to help athletes finish their degrees even after their playing days are over.
But athletes are pushing for more, including access to revenue generated by the use of their images and likenesses. And some observers say the player movement could have broader ripples.
“With the commercial engine that is being created with the new college-football playoff and the increase in revenues that are occurring, there’s still going to be significant agitation in the system,” said Amy Perko, executive director of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics.
And as the NCAA weighs a new governance system that would give the wealthiest five leagues more autonomy, tensions may grow between programs at the top of Division I and those closer to the bottom.
Legal Questions
Jackson Lewis, which specializes in labor and employment law, has held two webinars in recent months to inform colleges about the legal ramifications of the Northwestern case, making contact with more than 100 institutions.
While many college officials were just looking for clarity on the case and how it might one day affect them, others have taken steps to educate their staffs on the legal challenges should athletes on their campus petition to form a union, said Gregg Clifton, co-chair of the firm’s collegiate-and-professional-sports practice group.
Coaches have the legal right to speak with their players about unionization. But if coaches suggest that scholarships could be at risk because of players’ interest in forming a union, they could be found in violation of the National Labor Relations Act.
A regional director of the National Labor Relations Board ruled last month that Northwestern players were employees under the control of the university, based in part on the strict sports schedule they must keep. Northwestern has appealed the ruling, arguing that its athletes are students and not employees, and that the regional director ignored key facts.
In recent weeks, the university has lobbied against a union, suggesting to players and their parents that the team would be better off without it. (A 21-page Northwestern document obtained by CBSSports.com outlines the university’s stance.)
It’s unclear whether the full labor board will uphold the regional director’s decision. Many legal analysts believe the five-member board will favor the players’ effort.
In the meantime, NCAA leaders say they are prepared to offer students a greater voice in a redesigned governance structure, a move that they hope will be seen as a “good-faith effort to change the way we do business,” Harris Pastides, president of the University of South Carolina at Columbia and a member of the NCAA’s Division I Executive Committee, said in an opinion piece this week.
“We want to be responsive to our student-athletes,” he said. “Their concerns deserve to be heard, and the NCAA is the appropriate place for them to be addressed.”
