General Question

Strauss's avatar

College athletes can unionize. Is this a good thing?

Asked by Strauss (23624points) March 27th, 2014

Following a decision by the National Labor Relations Board, the Northwestern University players hold a vote on whether they want to be represented by the College Athletes Players Association, according th this article.

Should college “student-athletes” be unionized? How will this affect the athletes of “average” and “below average” athletic ability? What about the recruiting process? How will this change?

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7 Answers

ragingloli's avatar

Yes, it is.
Next.

GloPro's avatar

If they unionize then they better know for sure that they signed contracts BEFORE accepting scholarships, when they were nobody. If they get greedy or disgruntled they need to recognize that they agreed to what they thought was fair when they decided to accept.

Side note, however, as it applies to lifelong debilitating injuries. Any injured player that may suffer chronic disabilities should be compensated well for sacrificing health for an education and the school’s athletic program. Compensated WELL.

Cruiser's avatar

I think they are stretching it to call a student an athlete because they get scholarships to play sports while fellow students pay huge tuitions. Why stop at sports….unionize the students in the chamber choir and debate teams who got full ride scholarships. All this goes to show just how desperate the unions are to bolster their dwindling control in the labor market.

Darth_Algar's avatar

@Cruiser “I think they are stretching it to call a student an athlete because they get scholarships to play sports”

Yeah, it’s ridiculous to call someone who participates in sport an athlete.

johnpowell's avatar

@Cruiser :: Get back to me when the debate team makes 871.6 million USD in 2012 like the NCAA did.

It is a total farce and pure business. It should just be a league removed from academics like the minor league in baseball. Does anyone really root for, watch, buy merchandise for schools where they don’t live or where they didn’t go to college?

If it was just a NBA/NFL training ground nobody would give a single fuck about it and tickets to the Sweet 16 would be 7 bucks.

Cruiser's avatar

@Darth_Algar I am glad we can agree on one thing.

So @johnpowell are you saying you side with this Union that says any student who gets compensation via scholarship should automatically be allowed to unionize?? If so you really missed the boat when you drank away that Pabst Blue Ribbon scholarship.

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