The only ones who NEED a union are those who cannot reasonably relocate AND are when collective action is the only reasonable recourse to correct a wrong by some entity responsible for your well being.
Student athletes do not meet any of that. Mr. Napier could easily go pro, but he promised his mother that he'd complete college first. If Mr. Napier simply said, "recruit me", he'd have a signing bonus in his hands in an hour and all the food he would want.
Plenty of people in unions go hungry. Unionization didn't help them.
Actually they meet both criteria. Student athletes CAN’T reasonably relocate, NCAA rules say any move costs them a year of eligibility, and anyway any move will be to another school following NCAA rules. And there’s a clear wrong by an entity (NCAA not allowing them even a hint of compensation) that is supposed to be responsible for their well being (the rules supposedly are to keep them from getting exploited, but actually make it so they can’t be anything but exploited).
This is just another nail in the NCAA’s coffin. Their rules are dumb, their method of enforcement worse. It’s time for them to go.
Pretty much, if Mr. Napier and the UConn men win tonight and since he is a senior, and has another month to go, he will do very well in the upcoming NBA draft.