Why are college athletes, specifically quarterback Kain
Colter and the Northwestern Wildcats football team, forming a labor union? Today’s commentary will attempt to answer
that question.
But regardless of whether or not Northwestern successfully
appeals the N.L.R.B.’s ruling, one thing is clear: Colter and his colleagues have brought
national attention to the exploitative business of college sports, an industry
that annually generates billions in revenues for the N.C.A.A. and its largest
conferences. One article from Bloomberg
Businessweek estimates that the college athletics business is currently worth
as much as $16 billion. As for the
players themselves, they receive little compensation beyond an athletic
scholarship in exchange for devoting as much as 40-50 hours per week to their
chosen sport. Unfortunately, according
to C.A.P.A.’s website, the N.C.A.A. caps “full” scholarships
“below the cost of attendance by $3,000-$5,000 per player per year.”^ This form of what can be interpreted as wage
suppression occurs at a time when the N.C.A.A. made nearly $913 million in
fiscal year 2013.^^ Most of that money
comes from the current 14-year television contract between the N.C.A.A. and
CBS-Turner to broadcast the Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament for $10.8
billion. In addition, the new College
Football Playoff, which replaces the BCS, has a ten-year television deal with
ESPN worth $7.3 billion.
It is true that money is a major issue
throughout college sports. Some would
argue that it is the central issue behind Kain Colter’s decision to form the
C.A.P.A., which he did in back in January with assistance from both Ramogi Huma,
president of the National College Players Association, and Leo Gerard, president
of United Steelworkers. In a New York Times op-ed dated April 2,
Patrick T. Harker, president of the University of Delaware and a member of the
N.C.A.A.’s board of directors, argued that “player unions would be a disaster
for . . . student athletes” because the “prospect of college football players
bargaining to exchange scholarships for salaries” would “lessen the priority on
learning.”^^^ Currently, one could argue
that most Americans may share that view.
According to a recent HBO Real Sports/Marist College poll, 75% of those
surveyed believed college athletes should not unionize. A second poll from the same organization also
revealed that 67% of Americans were against the idea of paying college
athletes.*
Thus, it appears that the C.A.P.A. will
have to sway public opinion in its efforts to unionize college athletics. But Colter and his allies seem to understand
that the best way to gain public support is to avoid the issue of paying athletes
entirely. Rather, he and his colleague
Ramogi Huma have framed their argument for unionization as one based on
fairness and “giving athletes a seat at the table.” As Huma put it in an article from ESPN.com: “Athletes deserve an equal voice when it
comes to their physical, academic, and financial protections.”** In addressing
these issues, Colter, Huma, and Gerard outlined the following demands back in
January:
1. Provide financial coverage for
sports-related medical expenses (including after graduation)
2. Establish educational trust fund to help former players graduate
3. Make all scholarships guaranteed four-year scholarships
4. Make stipends cover full cost of attendance, regardless of school
5. More representation for major N.C.A.A. decisions
6. Placing independent concussion experts on the sidelines during games
7. "Due Process" before a coach could strip a player of his scholarship for a rules violation
2. Establish educational trust fund to help former players graduate
3. Make all scholarships guaranteed four-year scholarships
4. Make stipends cover full cost of attendance, regardless of school
5. More representation for major N.C.A.A. decisions
6. Placing independent concussion experts on the sidelines during games
7. "Due Process" before a coach could strip a player of his scholarship for a rules violation
Given how much
control the N.C.A.A. and its constituent universities exercise over college
sports, as well as lives of its players, it is highly unlikely that the changes
Colter and his allies are seeking could be achieved on an individual
basis. Indeed, the N.L.R.B.’s report on
Northwestern outlines many rules that college athletes have to follow when they
are off the athletic field:
the Employer’s players (both scholarship players and
walk-ons) are subject to certain
team and athletic department rules . . . Specifically,
freshmen and sophomore year players
receiving scholarships are required to
live in on-campus dormitories. Only upperclassmen
players are permitted to live off campus
and even then they are required to submit their lease
to Fitzgerald for his approval before they
can enter into it. If players want to obtain outside
employment, they must likewise first
obtain permission from the athletic department. This is
so that the Employer can monitor whether
the player is receiving any sort of additional
compensation or benefit because of their
athletic ability or reputation.
Similarly, players are
required to disclose to their coaches
detailed information pertaining to the vehicle that they
drive. The players must also abide by a
social media policy, which restricts what they can
post on the internet, including Twitter,
Facebook, and Instagram. In fact, the players are
prohibited from denying a coach’s “friend”
request and the former’s postings are monitored.
The Employer prohibits players from giving
media interviews unless they are directed to
participate in interviews that are
arranged by the Athletic Department. Players are prohibited
from swearing in public, and if a player
“embarrasses” the team, he can be suspended for
one game. A second offense of this nature
can result in a suspension up to one year.
Players who transfer to another school to
play football must sit out a year before they can
compete for the new school. Players are
prohibited from profiting off their image or
reputation, including the selling of
merchandise and autographs. Players are also required to
sign a release permitting the Employer and
the Big Ten Conference to utilize their name,
likeness and image for any purpose. The
players are subject to strict drug and alcohol
policies and must sign a release making
themselves subject to drug testing by the Employer,
Big Ten Conference, and NCAA. The players
are subject to anti-hazing and anti-gambling
policies as well. (Source:
pp. 4-5, National Labor Relations Board, Case 13-RC121359).
After one reads these rules, he or she can understand why
Colter views the N.C.A.A. as being “like a dictatorship.”*** In a work environment where employees have no
representation, they are at the mercy of their bosses. While some employers are more benevolent than
others, the companies and associations that historically put profits before
persons are usually the first to control, exploit, and abuse their workers. For instance, as New York Times opinion columnist Joe Nocera points out, “the phrase
‘student-athlete’ was . . . dreamed up in the 1950s by then-N.C.A.A. president
Walter Byers, after it appeared that injured athletes in several states might
be allowed to get workers compensation.”< Sixty years later, a severely injured college
athlete faces the possibility of having his or her scholarship revoked.<< Poor academic performance and failing to
follow N.C.A.A. rules can also have the same outcome.
It is interesting to note that the N.L.R.B.’s recognition of
the C.A.P.A. occurred the day after the 103rd anniversary of one of
the deadliest industrial disasters in American history. On March 25, 1911, 146 garment workers,
mostly young immigrant women, died in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in
New York City. The disaster endures as a
tragic and horrifying symbol of worker exploitation and abuse because the loss
of life could have been prevented.
First, the factory owners forced their laborers to endure hazardous,
sweatshop conditions as they worked long hours for low pay. Second, the owners locked the doors during
the workday to prevent theft and to keep members of the International Ladies’
Garment Workers’ (I.L.G.W.) union away from the workers. Because the doors were locked when the fire
occurred, and since the factory occupied the upper floors of a ten-story
building, the workers were trapped. As a
result, one of the only ways they could escape the burning building was by
jumping out of the windows. The workers who
made that desperate choice fell to their deaths.
Historians have cited the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire as a
milestone in organized labor’s struggle to unionize sweatshop factories in the
United States during the Gilded Age. The
subsequent public outrage to the disaster convinced many states to pass laws
that improved workplace safety standards.
The I.L.G.W eventually grew into an organization encompassing 450,000
workers by 1969. And two years after the
fire, president William Howard Taft signed legislation creating the Department
of Labor as a cabinet-level position.
The Federal Government ultimately recognized the
right of workers to unionize in the National Labor Relations Act of 1935. This Depression-era legislation was also
responsible for creating the N.L.R.B., whose main duty is conducting elections
that enable labor unions to bargain collectively with employers. According to the N.L.R.B.’s report concerning
the employment status of the Northwestern University football team, it has
authorized an immediate election, by secret ballot, among “all football players
receiving football grant-in-aid scholarship and not having exhausted their
playing eligibility.”<<< Though
Northwestern University has appealed the N.L.R.B.’s ruling, the players’ union
election will hopefully proceed without incident or intimidation.
Indeed, the N.L.R.B.’s decision regarding the
collective-bargaining rights of college athletes only affects private
universities like Northwestern, Miami (FL), USC, and even Syracuse
University. College athletes that play
for public universities will have to go through state-level labor boards if
they demand collective bargaining rights.
Colter and his allies understand that any effort to fully unionize
college sports will take years, perhaps decades, to occur since the N.C.A.A.
and its universities are reluctant to change the current lucrative business
model of college sports. If the C.A.P.A. undertakes this long-term commitment
to unionize “student-athletes” (and every article I read on the subject
indicates that it will), it will need the support of the American public. Unfortunately, as the story of Triangle
Shirtwaist Fire demonstrates, greater public support for progressive causes
such as promoting workers’ rights is often a consequence of tragic events.
In the summer of 2011, a Frostburg State University
football player, Derek Sheely, died after sustaining a traumatic brain injury
from a helmet-to-helmet hit during team practice. Sheely’s parents, two years after their son’s
death, ultimately filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the N.C.A.A. and three
Frostburg State coaches (the full story of Sheely’s death can be found here). In response, the N.C.A.A. filed a thirty-page
document to Montgomery County (MD) Circuit Court last December stating: “the
N.C.A.A. denies that it has a legal duty to protect student-athletes.”> Since then, two more college players,
California-Berkeley’s Ted Agu and Navy’s Will McKamey, have died after they had
both collapsed during spring practice.
While it is not yet known what caused Agu’s death, initial reports on
McKamey’s demise mentioned that he had "bleeding on the brain” as well as “a history of
head injuries.”>>
To its credit, the mainstream media has been paying
more attention to the dangers of head trauma and concussions in contact sports
like football, hockey, basketball, and soccer.
But this increased coverage began after N.F.L. players Junior Seau, Ray
Easterling, Paul Oliver, Jovan Belcher, Dave Duerson, and Mike Borich committed
suicide over the last few years.>>> Post-mortem
brain examinations of these players, excluding Jovan Belcher, though his body
was exhumed for such a procedure back in December, all confirmed that they had
Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy or C.T.E.
C.T.E. is an incurable degenerative disease caused by repeated blows to
the head, and its effects include depression, irrationality, memory loss,
dementia, and mood swings.
It is not known how many football players are currently afflicted
with this disease since a definitive diagnosis of C.T.E. can only be made after
death. Unfortunately, the disease can
affect anyone who has played football at both the professional and amateur
levels. In fact, CNN.com reported in
January 2012 that C.T.E. has been found in players as young as seventeen. That year, CNN confirmed that a high school
football player, Nathan Stiles, who died a few hours after he collapsed on the
sidelines during a game, is currently the youngest player to be diagnosed with
C.T.E.+ Based on this development, along
with a recent New York Times article
about Hall of Fame player Rayfield Wright mentioning “that N.F.L. players
encounter dementia, Alzheimer’s and other neurological diseases with greater
frequency than the general population,” one can argue that the United States
has a nascent public health crisis.++
What is known is that the N.C.A.A. and the N.F.L. are
fighting class-action lawsuits in which the plaintiffs allege that both
organizations failed to inform their athletes about the adverse health effects
of concussions and repeated head impacts.+++
In the N.F.L.’s case, a federal judge recently rejected a $765 million
settlement on the grounds that it was too small “to pay for medical tests and
treatment for the thousands of players who face - or could face - heath
problems related to their N.F.L. careers.”--
In the meantime, players like Rayfield Wright, who is currently
suffering from dementia and is one of the 4,500 plaintiffs involved in the
current N.F.L. lawsuit, have access to a health plan, which is jointly operated
by the league and the N.F.L. Players Association, to help cover some of their medical
expenses. As for college players enduring the effects of
constant head trauma and other injuries, no such plan is available to them.~ Hence, it seems like college athletes have
two options when it comes to protecting their health and safety. They can either await the outcome of a
class-action lawsuit, or join organizations like the C.A.P.A. to bargain
collectively for the economic and social protections that they deserve as employees
of the N.C.A.A. and its universities.
So, why are Kain
Colter and the Northwestern Wildcats football team forming a labor union? Because they believe collective action is the
most effective way to solve the various socio-economic problems that have
arisen as a consequence of the unequal relationship between the N.C.A.A. and
its athletes. The problems I discussed
in this commentary (i.e., insufficient funding for scholarships, social
controls placed on the lives of athletes, and the health and safety of players)
are present throughout college athletics and necessitate cooperative methods to solve them. Indeed, Kain Colter and his associates did
achieve a significant victory in what will be a long struggle to unionize
college sports. However, Northwestern
University is appealing the N.L.R.B.’s ruling, and the Wildcats football team
will not hold their vote on union representation until April 25th. Until that day, the next two weeks will
hopefully provide more opportunities for debate on an issue that may reshape
the landscape of college sports.
Sources:
^^^http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/02/opinion/student-athletes-shouldnt-unionize.html?_r=0
*http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/eye-on-college-football/24502907/75-percent-of-americans-against-college-players-unionizing
** http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/10363430/outside-lines-northwestern-wildcats-football-players-trying-join-labor-union
***ibid
< http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/01/opinion/nocera-unionized-college-athletes.html
<< http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/05/i-trusted-em-when-ncaa-schools-abandon-their-injured-athletes/275407/
<<< http://www.nlrb.gov/news-outreach/news-story/nlrb-director-region-13-issues-decision-northwestern-university-athletes
>http://www.cbssports.com/general/eye-on-sports/24380786/ncaa-denies-legal-duty-to-protect-student-athletes-court-filing-says
>>http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/early-lead/wp/2014/04/01/after-will-mckameys-death-navy-football-team-returns-to-practice/
http://www.wbir.com/story/news/local/2014/04/02/navy-football-resumes-week-after-will-mckameys-death/7205139/
>>> http://truth-out.org/news/item/14314-9-football-players-killed-by-brain-trauma
+ http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/27/health/big-hits-broken-dreams-brain-bank/
++http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/27/sports/football/for-a-cowboys-star-with-dementia-time-is-running-out.html
+++ ibid; http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/2014/01/02/concussion-lawsuits-ncaa-consolidated-adrian-arrington/4293867/
--ibid
~http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/05/i-trusted-em-when-ncaa-schools-abandon-their-injured-athletes/275407/
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