Professional athletes have been fighting for the right to unionize for years, finally being able to do so through representation by various players unions. Currently, for professional sports in North America, there are 9 labor organizations for the athletes, including the Major League Baseball Players Association, The NBA Players Association, The Women’s national Basketball Players Association, and the National Football League Players Association. These players associations are tasked with representing the players (and some for referees) in collective bargaining negotiations, grievance hearings and other labor-related issues.
For college student athletes, there is currently no players association that offers them support in their fight against unjust NCAA rules. There is a group called the College Athletes Players Association (CAPA) that is currently attempting to advocate for these student athletes and create a way for them to have more rights and protections. It is being led by current and former college athletes.
The CAPA is advocating for the following benefits:
- Guaranteed coverage for sports-related medical expenses for current and former players.
- Minimizing the risk of sports-related traumatic brain injury. Reduce contact in practices like the NFL and Pop Warner have done, place independent concussion experts on the sidelines, and establish uniform return to play protocols.
- Improving graduation rates. Establish an educational trust fund to help former players complete their degree and reward those who graduate on time.
- Consistent with evolving NCAA regulations or future legal mandates, increasing athletic scholarships and allowing players to receive compensation for commercial sponsorships.
- Securing due process rights. Players should not be punished simply because they are accused of a rule violation, and any punishments levied should be consistent across campuses.
There is also a College Football Players Association that launched last summer, with the goal of promoting labor organization among NCAA football players specifically. These unions also aim to classify college student athletes as employees, so that they are legally able to unionize. Many advocates for student athletes’ ability to unionize, as would be possible if they were defined as employees by the NCAA, are engaging in lawsuits against the NCAA for violations of unfair labor practices by disallowing athletes from being classified as employees and being afforded the rights that come with that classification.
Cases such as NCAA v. Alston, in which the Supreme Court held that the NCAA rules limiting education-related compensation was in violation of the Sherman Act. This means that the NCAA is no longer able to limit benefits student athletes are afforded for playing their sport. The most notable outcome of this case is the ability for student athletes to capitalize on their name, image, and likeness, which they could not do before without sacrificing their eligibility to play their sport in college. While they are not able to be paid by universities, they are able to sign endorsement deals, sell merchandise, and use social media to make money. Now, the next step in litigation would be to sue for the right to be classified as employees, and thus eligible to unionize and obtain protections.
With the right to unionize not yet being given readily to college student athletes, there are many concerns for protections that need to be afforded to these athletes, such as injury care, insurance coverage following their athletic careers, as well as the opportunity to advocate more for themselves in the recruiting process, as they are signing on to work in an industry for up to 4 years. As of now, student athletes do not have the ability to form unions, and recent court decisions stating that they are not employees has caused much controversy and uproar from both prior and current student athletes alike. While some say that “employee status is not a guarantee of better rights” being able to advocate and negotiate for better rights would realistically put student athletes in a more beneficial position.
