"That Scott Boras, he gonna have a heart attack when he see what I brung him!"
Posted on 07/24/2014 7:36:04 AM PDT by Academiadotorg
The efforts of Northwestern University’s scholarship football players to unionize could have profound implications for the future of college education. northwestern university football
According to the Associated Press, Northwestern University just filed a 60-page brief with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in Washington, D.C. This comes after a regional director of the NLRB ruled this past spring that “football players who receive full scholarships to the Big Ten school qualify as employees under federal law and therefore can unionize.”
If the decision of the regional director is upheld, the framework between the players and the university would be redefined from one of a student-athlete orientation to an employer-employee configuration. This would fundamentally alter the operation of student athletics in an unprecedented fashion.
To treat college athletes as employees who have chosen to attend that university specifically to pursue an athletic, vocational mission would inflict great damage to the “student-athlete” paradigm that has guided administration within the realm of university athletics. Indeed, in Northwestern’s brief that was filed for the regional hearing, the University makes it clear that its current philosophy with respect to the “football program is [that it’s] an avocation, not a vocation.” The brief details how intercollegiate athletics is simply just one of 480 co-curricular activities that are offered to Northwestern students for “purposes of providing the broadest educational experience available.”
Some may regard the distribution of scholarship grants to constitute compensation, comparable to what a normal employee would collect while rendering a service. The University has staunchly rejected this argument as “athletic scholarship funds do not bear the hallmarks of compensation, as the funds are not subject to taxes or withholdings.” The brief continues: “In fact, if the benefits of the athletic scholarships were treated as wages or compensation for services rendered, Northwestern student-athletes would not be able to participate in NCAA football.”
What is at the essence of this dispute is Northwestern’s belief that the NLRB regional director “overlooked or ignored key evidence that Northwestern presented showing that its student-athletes are primarily students, not employees.”
At first glance, it would seem that Northwestern should prevail. Even though there are far-reaching financial motivations that shape intercollegiate athletics, the University by all accounts appears sincere in its claim that all kids who are admitted to Northwestern, do so with an academic objective that supersedes any other predisposition.
They’re assuming, too, that fans are going to pay “pro” ticket prices, too, which likely won’t happen. College ticket prices for the major sports are moving towards the “not affordable” area, anyway.
Scholarships over the amount of tuition, course fees and books are already taxed as unearned income, at about 20%.
Lot of empty seats in The Swamp last year. People won’t pay those prices to watch sucky football.
What you said, but....
More opportunity for players to receive head trauma as they “make their way up” the minor-league ladder.
Me?
No likey!
I’ll bet if you polled them, you’d find that they prefer soccer.
"That Scott Boras, he gonna have a heart attack when he see what I brung him!"
Not really. A football is not round. Most of the boys I know may have played soccer in grade school but it is not the game of choice when they get older.
Easy stop offering full ride scholarships for athletics.
I mean the progressives
Just what the progressives want - the end of our national game.
...don’t lament...remember, soccer will be there to pick up the pieces...
I don't get the fascination with it. It is like rugby which I don't get either.
I went to Spain and had the TV on while I got dressed to go eat and when I noticed the TV again it looked like they were showing a Cowboys game. It looked like the old Cowboy Stadium but it was all in Spanish. I sat on the bed and tried to figure out why they would be showing a Cowboys game in Barcelona. Then I noticed that all of their jerseys had Spanish surnames. I got to asking and found out there are football teams all through Europe. That is why the SuperBowl is so popular.
But then again I do not get soccer.
But then again I do not get soccer.
...trouble is, I do get soccer, and while I don’t think the game itself is very good (the point appears, at least at the high school level, to kick the ball out of bounds as quickly as possible, then line back up and do it all again) what I really hate is the elites, and their drones in the media pushing the game down our throats as some sort of alternative to football...
...the elites love the game, because at lower levels, very little skill is needed to play (compare it to baseball), and because, if push came to shove, girls could be mixed in on boys teams an the dropoff in game quality will not be as apparent...really, an elitist’s fondest dream...
The colleges tried that in the 50’s and the “NCAA” said go agead but you won’t make any money because we have the TV contracts locked up.
There’s a great documentary available on netflix that goes into how this “organization” came about and how they keep the schols in line while they make billions off of football and basketball.
My son played football in high school and at a D2 college. In football there is the need to memorize all the plays and for each member of the team to know exactly what to do at every moment of the game. There is no time to mentally ramble during a play. In fact, the concentration needed for a football play is so intense that it requires frequent breaks. Some players need to excel at brute strength but other players like the quarterback and defense use less brute strength but have the task of directing the entire effort.
That can possibly explain why a liberal elite who is used to skating through life like Obama can not identify with football.
Football is really a great example of American capitalism, and is probably why they are intent upon destroying it.
In the 1950s when there were 3 networks that was the case and the NCAA had the power because of it. In 1984 SCOTUS broke that monopoly and now there’s tons of overlapping TV contracts, individual colleges and whole conferences have them. Plus the 2 big NCAA contracts, which they could easily lose without much problem thanks to all the others.
But for whatever reason the college presidents still cowtow to their “masters”. Obviously it’s all about the money.
I don’t want anyone to think I’m for the players forming a union but definetly a stipend of some sort. I also think that the NFL should be paying a fee for the free trained stream of future employees.
I don’t think they’re kowtowing as much as they used to. They’re creating the super conferences, there’s been some pretty vocal complaints about NCAA rules and how they’re enforced. I think there’s plans in place to walk away, they’re just waiting for some pieces to fall in place.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.