NLRB deliberates on athletes as employees

[robinreed]

Notre Dame and Northwestern comment on possible NLRB decision concerning college athletes at private schools being employees.

http://www.indystar.com/story/sports/co ... /27624809/

Could be a huge mess if it comes to pass. Bad for us, much worse for ND and other private football schools.

Comments please

[robinreed]

Attached is a very interesting article from The Atlantic magazine which makes the case for athletes in college being employees. It was published last year but I did not see it until recently. I sincerely hope that the athletes are not made employees however this article makes a good case for the opposite position.

In another internet posting it was stated that the NLRB will not make (or announce) their finding until this autumn. After which it might be opposed in court by the schools or the players.

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainmen ... es/360065/

[DudeAnon]

I did Chemistry Research in my stint at college and was paid $12.50 an hour as a university employee. People realize there are already a swath of jobs which are only offered to students right? Just make this the same thing. Should we be afraid of public schools who can pay more? Maybe, but welcome to the real world I guess.

[robinreed]

I did Chemistry Research in my stint at college and was paid $12.50 an hour as a university employee. People realize there are already a swath of jobs which are only offered to students right? Just make this the same thing. Should we be afraid of public schools who can pay more? Maybe, but welcome to the real world I guess.

DudeAnon,

I am not afraid of public schools who can pay more because the NLRB ruling in Chicago ONLY effects private schools. It is only private schools who must treat their athletes as employees and only private schools who must pay them and provide them with other benefits. If you look back to April of last year the ruling of the NLRB specifically states (per published articles) that athletes as employees will apply only to private schools. Indeed the Ohio legislature passed a law last year forbidding Ohio's public universities from making its student athletes employees. Some other states were considering such laws at the time however I am unsure if they were passed.

Perhaps making athletes into employees is not all bad as we could and would be required to pay them and the public universities would be forbidden to do so. This may give us an advantage at least until the public universities refused to play us because their athletes were "amateurs" and ours were employees. I believe it leaves too much room for mischief however if the NLRB upholds the Northwestern decision we shall see. I await with anticipation the University of Alabama refusing to play private schools because they have paid professional athletes and poor U of A does not. An Everest of contradiction but still a possibility in this strange new world.

[BEhomer]

football has grown too big and too successful for its own good. change is inevitable. whatever the change happens it will impact football schools more than basketball onlys. just sit back and enjoy the ride.

[DudeAnon]

Don't get me wrong. I love college basketball and believe that the spirit should try to be preserved. But the fact is that the NCAA made up their minds a long time ago about what was important, and that was $$$. So its only fair that if $$$ is going to run the show that the student-athletes should get their fair share. Hopefully this comes about without destroying competitive balance, but if it doesn't then there will be nobody to blame but the NCAA and their billion dollar TV contracts.

[robinreed]

Don't get me wrong. I love college basketball and believe that the spirit should try to be preserved. But the fact is that the NCAA made up their minds a long time ago about what was important, and that was $$$. So its only fair that if $$$ is going to run the show that the student-athletes should get their fair share. Hopefully this comes about without destroying competitive balance, but if it doesn't then there will be nobody to blame but the NCAA and their billion dollar TV contracts.

DudeAnon,

I fully agree that the NCAA and the Football schools are primarily at fault for what has happened in college athletics. The large TV contracts were given to the big football schools and their conferences and they did not give a damn about anything that would happen to X or any of the small private basketball schools. We in the BE lucked out and got a contract which is excellent in what we are paid and better than any other non football conference and any G5 football conference but we still are well behind the B10, Sec etc. If I thought it were possible I would support the abolition of all athletic grants at all schools. However we all know that would not work nor could it be passed by the NCAA.

In any case DudeAnon I have just returned from lunch at Frisch's Big Boy and have heard the chain is being sold to a private capital investment group in Atlanta. Since I have been going to that diner since shortly after birth as did my parents and grandparents before me this is a major shock to my psyche and I must view it as the beginning of Armageddon. When I lived in L.A. in the late 1990's there were rumors that Bob's Big Boy was planning to sell out. Thank god it did not happen or there would have been riots in the streets. Hope that does not happen here. I am thinking of buying a Sig Sauer 9 mil for self protection from the impending social and economic (not to mention culinary) crisis. God bless us all. It seems there actually are more important things than college basketball.