ASSOCIATED PRESS: The Northwestern football team — or any other college sports team — cannot unionize.
ASSOCIATED PRESS: The Northwestern football team — or any other college sports team — cannot unionize.
The decision throws out a March 2014 ruling by a regional NLRB director in Chicago who said that the football players are effectively school employees and entitled to organize. Monday’s decision did not directly address the question of whether football players are employees.
The labor dispute goes to the heart of American college sports, where universities and conferences reap billions of dollars, mostly through broadcast contracts, by relying on amateurs who are not paid. In other countries, college sports are small-time club affairs, while elite youth athletes often turn pro as teens.
