On April 2, Northwestern University football union representatives presented their case to lawmakers in Washington D.C. after being told they have the same rights as other workers to negotiate union terms.
The situation brings up many questions and concerns for both the athletes and fans of the sports and universities. Why is it important for them to unionize and should colleges and universities be allowed to do this? What will be allowed in the terms for the union?
A couple of supporters for Northwestern, Ramogi Huma, president of the National Colleges Players Association, and former Northwestern quarterback Kain Colter, have claimed that this will raise awareness since the most important thing is the health and safety of the athletes.
I think the health of these student-athletes should have always been a concern for the coaching staff and university administrators. I understand that all the recent developments with former players experiencing long-term side-effects from concussions have brought player’s health to the forefront. The advancement of concussion testing in power and performance sports has made strides towards improvement, but safety should have always been the case.
All these athletes receive scholarships so they don’t lose out on money by having to pay for their education because of an injury. Many of these athletes won’t lose any future money from professional sports because most student-athletes don’t go on to play professionally. Most are aware that they will never go pro and they use their scholarships to help earn a degree for a profession they can actually achieve. Student employees get paid by the school to work but they also have to pay for their education out of pocket.
The argument from the athletes is that they are also employees of the school so they should get paid. But not having to pay the university to attend it seems like a fair trade-off.
Should colleges and universities be allowed to unionize and how far will it reach? Will this only be allowed on the Division I level because Northwestern, a Division I school, has led the way or will it only be allowed in Division I because those athletes are more likely to make it to professional sports? It would be a good time to introduce unions to these athletes so they know what is to be expected on the next level.
If all universities on all levels are allowed to start unionizing, will each school have its own collective bargaining agreement or will there be one CBA for all schools across the board? There are too many questions for the whole union idea to be set in place anytime soon, but these are issues that need to be brought up.
If it is allowed, I feel that there should be a CBA for each of the four divisions in college sports. That way, there can be no argument about unfair treatment for any one school. The NCAA governing body should have the capabilities to reach fair terms for each of the CBAs.
What will be allowed in the union? At this point, it is only Northwestern football that is trying to unionize. Do other sports feel they don’t have the same rights or is football the only sport that concerns fans enough to bring up these union talks? Northwestern’s football team isn’t the greatest and they don’t have any future prospects for the NFL. All the bigger name players and schools may not feel that a union is as important to them as it is to the smaller schools.
Will athletes get paid as a condition of the union? If I’m a top-name pro-prospect who intends to leave school early, all that doesn’t concern me. If I’m just a middle-of-the-road player who was able to earn a scholarship to college, than it might be a bonus if I could earn some extra money playing a sport I love or get certain benefits for being a part of the athletic department.
There are just too many of these kinds of student-athletes out there for the university to be able to pay both them and student employees. There lies another question: will the student-athletes get paid more than other student employees? They get their education for free and get paid to play; it just seems a little unfair.
This unionization issue, with not only Northwestern, but all NCAA institutions, will be a hot topic in the near future. There are still so many questions and concerns that need to be brought up and answered before moving forward. I just hope that if these changes are implemented, it won’t take away from the greatest sport in this country.
