Posted on 01/28/2014 2:25:01 PM PST by Zakeet
Kain Colter and a group of Northwestern players are beginning the process of forming a labor union to represent college athletes.
According to ESPN's Outside the Lines, Ramogi Huma, president of the National College Players Association, filed a petition in Chicago on behalf of the players with the National Labor Relations Board.
If the group is certified by the NLRB, it will be called the College Athletes Players Association (CAPA). Huma, Colter and former UMass basketball player Luke Bonner created the group with support from the United Steelworkers.
[Snip]
According to NCPAnow.org, the group has 11 specific goals.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbssports.com ...
I can see their slogan now:
“Get the team into the Teamsters!”
Very clever strategy to end-run the NCAA by going direct to Obama’s NLRB.
Another nail in the coffin of the NCAA. Those are generally fairly reasonable demands mostly hitting some of the NCAA’s stupider rules.
I imagine union cheerleaders would be pretty ugly.
This will drag on for a long time.
To sum, a UCLA student told ESPN’s OTL program they’d like to form a NCPA similar to the CAPA, based on NLRB input from their FLSA and NCRA models, while awaiting input from the NAACP.
The rules should be changed to allow for the players to have some form of job or remuneration, but everyone forgets that they already get a full ride scholarship worth tens of thousands a year. It is their responsibility to graduate and make something of themselves.
1, 3, 6, 9, 10, 11 seem reasonable to me.
Employees — the athletes are involved in fund-raising for their universities, they are provided a form of remuneration, and they are prevented from certain behaviors as if they were on contract.
My guess will be that they’ll be supported by the NLRB. It’ll be good publicity for the NLRB, the demands aren’t outrageous, and there is a case that can be made for the athletes being some form of university worker...as much as is a graduate assistant.
Get rid of college sports. They’re supposed to be there for an education.
Yes, but do academic and merit scholarships prevent students from working? Why are athletic ones different?
Time and a half for evening games....
The reason why is because of the abuses by the boosters.
The second year freshman with the ‘job’ at the local Jaguar dealership that includes a company car and a $10k a month salary is a bit different than the communications major with a $8 hour part time internship at the local radio station.
I have no problem with a reasonable allowance for a job or even a small stipend. But these ‘student’ athletes already get in enough trouble with no money. How bad would it be if they had more money than the average college student and where on the football team?
This will take a few years and probably reach a higher court. Maybe even the Supreme Court. But this is a huge deal. The NBA and the NFL basically have a free minor-league system they don’t have to pay for.
I agree. There’s something out of place about the NCAA, coaches, and universities getting BILLIONS and players getting sloughed off after injuries like they never happened.
I didn’t mention money, but our Cincy Bearcat football coach, a 2nd tier program, pulls down a coupla million bucks.
I think they get a free education and the opportunity to play at that level. And the opportunity to have a shot at the big league if they're good enough. And, it's an opportunity to get a degree that many would not have without college sports.
What's the value of a college degree? Present value and future value?
I would have loved to have played division 1 college ball, (couldn't hit a big time curve well enough). God has blessed these athletes and given them opportunities that many would love to have, and it's not enough. That's a common tale in all of life.
Just my opinion.
Yes. It’s the amount of money that’s the difference. High school coaches barely meet expenses if even that. The ones I know don’t.
There are plenty of female and male athletes who don't abuse the system who get punished, and cannot work because they are on a athletic scholarship.
Is there a need for some sort of change? of course. But the reason why they limit the scholarship athlete to no job is exactly because of the abuses that MANY in the booster community would involved. The panacea for the ‘student athlete’ is to forgo the scholarship and pay out of pocket. That would give him every opportunity to work at whatever job he would like.
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