[LonePalm]

Can non-employees unionize?

If the football players are employees doesn't that mean that they have turned Pro and are no longer eligible to play in the NCAA?

"Ceterum censeo Islam esse delendam."

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)

[Myrddin]

NCAA could certainly make that argument and exclude teams with union players. Join the union, get dropped from the team as you make the team ineligible to play. Put a union member on the field in an NCAA game and you forfeit.

[Dr. Sivana]

If the football players are employees doesn't that mean that they have turned Pro and are no longer eligible to play in the NCAA?
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That could open the door to challenges to the NBA as a monopoly in restraint of trade or even RICO. There's no end to what can come from this. Although it is a wrong-headed approach, the NCAA has something bad due its way.

[grania]

Division 1 college football....should it really be part of the college? Perhaps it would be better if it were considered minor-league pro teams, with an association with a university that would coordinate to provide college classes if the players so choose. Let them have to leave those leagues after four years participation. It's a farce to be giving them college degrees unless they actually earn them. Besides that, they could live away from the college campus and let their league babysit them.

I remember someone making that suggestion a few years ago. It sure does beat the farce of giving them scholarships and baby-stepping them through degree programs. The academically qualified? They'd still have that provision to attend the college.