The recent events of Northwestern have struck me as unique. I have not seen perceveirence in men going after the NCAA in a long time. This new wave of unionization in colligate athletics will have a real significant role in the future. The athletes of Northwestern are looking for a way to make the NCAA see that they need medical and educational backing for the future. According to Northwestern, they would like to receive benefits for the purpose of present and future medical bills, along with the additional funding for athletes trying to complete their schooling. This puts the NCAA in a real tight spot.
In early 2014, the Collegiate Athletic Coalition put in a petition to justify that the term student-athlete was void, and that these athletes were in fact athletes who happen to be students. Hence, being employees of the universities in which they attend. In March, the CAC won the argument, which, allowed the National Labor Relations Board of Chicago to pass judgement on to the National Labor Relations Board in Washington. With this win, the Northwestern players were able to vote on wether they would want to form a union or not. The votes were sealed and takes directly the the NLRB. No one but them knows the outcome. As soon as mid season, the NLRB could have a ruling that could turn the NCAA on its head. It will be an interesting year in college football thanks in large part to the Northwestern football team.
Did you see what happened the last few days with the autonomy ruling in the NCAA with the Power 5? It is crazy.. what do you think will happen with it going forward? and, do you think it is good for the NCAA? I'm not sure if that Northwestern case is the same thing, but how do you think this impacts that? I'm not sure personally that I like it as I believe it takes away from the meaning of college athletics, but I also see that they make billions of dollars off them.
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