Stanford University’s football team just made history as the first to join the College Football Players Association (CFBPA). Picture a scene straight out of a gritty union drama, with a modern-day Jimmy Hoffa and his crew muscling their way into college football. In this story, Jason Stahl plays the lead as CFBPAs executive director.
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The idea of college football players forming a union has been around for a while. Back in 2014, Northwestern University players tried to blaze that trail, but the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) shut the door, refusing to get involved. Remember, this was before the days of NIL deals and revenue sharing, when college athletes weren’t raking in eye-popping sums. More recently, Dartmouth’s men’s basketball team took their own tentative shot at unionizing during the Biden years.
Unionization hinges on proving an employee-employer relationship. That’s the sticking point. Can a student-athlete, still considered an amateur, really be called an “employee”? It all starts with a paycheck
How College Athletes Are Legally Compensated
Before 2021, the NCAA (National College Athletic Association) kept a tight lid on athlete compensation. Of course, everyone knew that standout football and basketball players often got paid under the table, but when schools got caught, chaos followed. The SMU “death penalty” debacle is a prime example.
What was illegal yesterday is now legal. Today’s college athletes can receive compensation in two ways.
On July 1, 2021, the NCAA opened the floodgates for NIL (name, image, likeness) deals. Suddenly, everyone from Nike to the corner car lot could pay athletes for endorsements. Predictably, the brightest stars scooped up most of the early NIL cash, leaving third-stringers watching from the sidelines as the gap between teammates widened.
Keep in mind that colleges and universities do not directly pay their athletes. In other words, the team’s quarterback isn’t paid every two weeks along with the philosophy professor.
To tackle this imbalance, schools created “collectives.” These groups, set up as for-profit LLCs or non-profit 501(c)(3)s, supposedly operate apart from the athletic department. In reality, they’re fueled by generous alumni and donors pooling money for NIL payouts.
Revenue sharing offers a different path. Unlike NIL, it lets athletic programs divvy up to 22% of the average of power conference programs surplus funds, with a cap of $21.3 million, among their athletes. Many fans picture every college sports program sitting atop a mountain of money.
The truth is, most NCAA athletic departments lose money. Only powerhouse football and basketball teams rake in serious revenue, while sports like softball, tennis, golf, and soccer often spend far more than they earn.
Unpacking the mechanics of NIL collectives and revenue sharing would take a stack of white papers, and that’s not my specialty. But one thing is clear: paying athletes cracks open new doors. Once money changes hands for work, you’re flirting with an employee-employer relationship. That paves the way for unionization, which I believe spells trouble for college sports.
Why Unionize College Athletics?
Unionization sparks instant debate among college football fans. On one side, you have white-collar types who bristle at organized labor; on the other, blue-collar workers who proudly back unions. Ironically, the same two men who haggle over contracts at an Alabama paper mill on Friday are high-fiving in Tuscaloosa on Saturday, united in their love for the Crimson Tide.
What do union bosses typically negotiate? Pay, working conditions, and health and retirement benefits are items that come to mind.
Stahl has spent years crisscrossing the country, meeting with players and pitching his vision. His strategy is straightforward: land one major conference school, then watch the dominoes fall. He’ll likely focus on ACC schools like Clemson, North Carolina, and Florida State, but the easiest targets might be Boston College, UC Berkeley, or Pitt—campuses rooted in union-heavy industries like construction, public service, and hospitality.
Picture this: you wake up on a brisk November morning to headlines announcing that Auburn’s football players are striking, refusing to play the Iron Bowl against Alabama because their NIL pool falls short of their rivals.
Unions Will Ruin College Athletics
I know, I’m shouting into the void. The barn door is wide open, and there’s no turning back on NIL or revenue sharing. Funny enough, “nil” means “nothing” or “zero” in English. Maybe it’s time for Webster to update that definition.
Everyone agrees college athletics—especially football—is a mess. The NCAA, meant to be in charge, is powerless. Congress, which struggles with even the simplest tasks, is now debating the Protect College Sports Act, (PCSA) which is supported by the NCAA but opposed by the two strongest conferences, the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and the Big Ten. As written, the bill’s chances are small. However, this gives Stahl and the CFBPA some leverage to position themselves as the appropriate buffer between the players, schools and conferences.
What I wonder is how unions would actually work in college sports. Beyond pay, they could negotiate over practice schedules and health insurance. I can almost see Alabama legend Bear Bryant rolling in his grave at the thought of a union rep dictating practice times or tackling drills. Nick Saban probably shares that sentiment.
While I don’t support labeling college athletes as employees, I do think some NIL and revenue money should fund their health insurance. Still, I’m not sure how that would work without an official employee-employer setup. And when it comes to working conditions, have you seen the state-of-the-art locker rooms and training centers at top schools?
With fierce resistance from the SEC and Big Ten, I doubt the PCSA will pass as written. College football is already transforming before our eyes. Letting unions into the mix could do even more harm and threaten the very soul of the sport. Time will tell. Thankfully, no one is messing with the college tailgating experience.