In a ruling that could revolutionize college athletics, a federal agency ruled Wednesday that college football players at Northwestern University can unionize.

The decision by a regional director of the National Labor Relations Board means it agrees football players at the Big Ten school qualify as employees under federal law and therefore can create the nation's first college athlete's union..

The Evanston, Ill-based university argued college athletes, as students, don't fit in the same category as factory workers, truck drivers and other unionized workers. The school plans to appeal to labor authorities in Washington, D.C.

"While we respect the NLRB process and the regional director's opinion, we disagree with it," a statement from Northwestern University 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."

Outgoing Wildcats quarterback Kain Colter took a leading role in establishing the College Athletes Players Association, or CAPA, which would take the lead in organizing the players. The United Steelworkers union has been footing the legal bills.

Colter, whose eligibility has been exhausted and who has entered the NFL draft, said nearly all of the 85 scholarship players on the Wildcats roster backed the union bid, though only he expressed his support publicly.

CAPA attorneys argued that college football is, for all practical purposes, a commercial enterprise that relies on players' labor to generate billions of dollars in profits. That, they contend, makes the relationship of schools to players one of employers to employees.

In its endeavor to have college football players be recognized as essential workers, CAPA likened scholarships to employment pay -- too little pay from its point of view. Northwestern balked at that claim, describing scholarship as grants.

Giving college athletes employee status and allowing them to unionize, critics have argued, could hurt college sports in numerous ways -- including by raising the prospects of strikes by disgruntled players or lockouts by athletic departments.

The NCAA has been under increasing scrutiny over its amateurism rules and is fighting a class-action federal lawsuit by former players seeking a cut of the billions of dollars earned from live broadcasts, memorabilia sales and video games. Other lawsuits allege the NCAA failed to protect players from debilitating head injuries.

NCAA President Mark Emmert has pushed for a $2,000-per-player stipend to help athletes defray some of expenses. Critics say that isn't nearly enough, considering players help bring in millions of dollars to their schools and conferences.

CAPA's specific goals include guaranteeing coverage of sports-related medical expenses for current and former players, ensuring better procedures to reduce head injuries and potentially letting players pursue commercial sponsorships.

For now, the push is to unionize athletes at private schools, such as Northwestern, because the federal labor agency does not have jurisdiction over public universities.

During the NLRB's five days of hearings in February, Wildcats coach Pat Fitzgerald took the stand for union opponents, and his testimony sometimes was at odds with Colter's.

Colter told the hearing that players' performance on the field was more important to Northwestern than their in-class performance, saying, "You fulfill the football requirement and, if you can, you fit in academics." Asked why Northwestern gave him a scholarship of $75,000 a year, he responded: "To play football. To perform an athletic service."

But Fitzgerald said he tells players academics come first, saying, "We want them to be the best they can be ... to be a champion in life."

An attorney representing the university, Alex Barbour, noted Northwestern has one of the highest graduation rates for college football players in the nation, around 97 percent. Barbour insisted, "Northwestern is not a football factory."

 cincydooley wrote:
I hope Northwestern blocks any player that decides to unionize from their respective sport under the premise that, as union members, they're employees, and as employees, they're professionals.

And we all know no professionals in the NCAA.

 cincydooley wrote:
I hope Northwestern blocks any player that decides to unionize from their respective sport under the premise that, as union members, they're employees, and as employees, they're professionals.

And we all know no professionals in the NCAA.

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
Wait, Can College Sports have "Scrubs"? I doubt that they can hire cheap labour off the street for football games.
Also, What will their Union Dues come from?

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
I mean, how would they PAY the Dues?

 Hlaine Larkin mk2 wrote:
This has been a long time coming to be honest.
The NCAA has made millions upon millions off the nation wide showing of collegiate level sports while denying the players a penny for their efforts. Unfortunately a lot of US Universities really on the income their sports programmes make to completely cut it off would be suicide, better to exploit a few to educate ten times their number than to not be able to educate them at all 0

Just 23 of 228 athletics departments at NCAA Division I public schools generated enough money on their own to cover their expenses in 2012.

 Hlaine Larkin mk2 wrote:

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
I mean, how would they PAY the Dues?

They can have part time jobs or use money their parents give them for living expenses while at college to pay for union dues

 Frazzled wrote:


I thought lockouts were illegal under current labor law.

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:

 cincydooley wrote:
I hope Northwestern blocks any player that decides to unionize from their respective sport under the premise that, as union members, they're employees, and as employees, they're professionals.

And we all know no professionals in the NCAA.

While the sentiment is nice, I don't think NW could survive without any of its sports programs. While theyre not a powerhouse by any stretch they, like so many other schools do depend on the money brought in through the sports programs.

 gorgon wrote:
The most profitable athletic departments in the NCAA only make $10-20 million profit, and there's only a handful of those. Many only hover around breakeven.

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
Too much

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
The second graph. That isnt sad t depressing AT ALL

 cincydooley wrote:

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
The second graph. That isnt sad t depressing AT ALL

No, it isn't.

Those basketball and football programs FUND THE ENTIRE athletic departments for their respective universities.

At Ohio State, for example, that includes 34 Sports that operate at a deficit and over 800 other student athlete scholarships.

The head football coach at Ohio State, or Alabama, or USC, or Texas is probably worth more than they're actually getting paid.

 hotsauceman1 wrote:

I consider the coach making more then the teachers sad.

 Hlaine Larkin mk2 wrote:

The term is a "Scab" Scrubs is what you wear in a hospital
And College football teams have walk-on players already, usually just kickers or second string special teamers but they do exist, The assumption would be if the players went on strike the program could conceivably recruit from within their own student body.

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
That isnt what im talking about, what im talking about is those coaches making more money then teachers, all the money getting funded INTO the athletic department and no where else.

My school just got brand new workout equipment, but for some reason im a a class with no proper overhead, No air conditioning and a class of 40 in a room meant to hold 25. I feel No sympathy there for football players who complain