The Fight Over College Athletics Heats Up In South Central
December 21, 2022 1:30 PM Subscribe
Over the past few decades, there has been a fight over the legal status of college athletes, with many pointing out that for marquee athletics, they should be treated as employees. That fight took a step up as the National Labor Relations Board has announced that their Los Angeles office is directed to pursue unfair labor practices charges against the University of Southern California, the Pac-12 Conference, and the NCAA.
The claim charges that marquee athletes at USC are employees of the entities listed and as such their policies have unlawfully restricted their rights. If successful, this would redefine the relationship between marquee athletes and schools as employee/employer, and open the door to labor organization.
The claim charges that marquee athletes at USC are employees of the entities listed and as such their policies have unlawfully restricted their rights. If successful, this would redefine the relationship between marquee athletes and schools as employee/employer, and open the door to labor organization.
If they really want to shake things up they should go after the SEC
posted by TedW at 1:35 PM on December 21, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by TedW at 1:35 PM on December 21, 2022 [2 favorites]
If they really want to shake things up they should go after the SEC
California tends to have labour rights that you just don't get in most of the states that are home to SEC universities.
posted by thecjm at 2:17 PM on December 21, 2022 [4 favorites]
California tends to have labour rights that you just don't get in most of the states that are home to SEC universities.
posted by thecjm at 2:17 PM on December 21, 2022 [4 favorites]
What's to keep going to High School athletes or junior high, and recruits to private high schools? Seems like an labor law issue with how young they can apply employee status. Like you are requiring an employee to keep playing a game at age 6 for too many hours? Well, the alternative is shut down kids leagues is the last thing adults in the room want, but continue to miss in the unintended consequences. I'm waiting on the unions to represent the LLWS players or NIL deals for 6 year old.
posted by brent at 2:19 PM on December 21, 2022
posted by brent at 2:19 PM on December 21, 2022
You do realize that marquee college athletics is a multibillion dollar industry, right? There are no unintended consequences, just decades of blatant wage theft.
(Also, regarding NIL rights for 6 year olds - you have heard of Ryan's World, right? The reason the NCAA got rid of their NIL rules was because they were blatantly illegal with states clarifying how illegal they were and the Supreme Court pointedly telling them that antitrust law is A Thing.)
posted by NoxAeternum at 2:35 PM on December 21, 2022 [5 favorites]
(Also, regarding NIL rights for 6 year olds - you have heard of Ryan's World, right? The reason the NCAA got rid of their NIL rules was because they were blatantly illegal with states clarifying how illegal they were and the Supreme Court pointedly telling them that antitrust law is A Thing.)
posted by NoxAeternum at 2:35 PM on December 21, 2022 [5 favorites]
It's completely obvious to me that varsity sports players are employees, and should be compensated as such. If that ends up devolving the leagues into competitons for who can pay the most, I'm okay with that. Even if it means the ratings tank so hard televised game contracts dry up. Espescially so.
and open the door to labor organization.
I know this excites MeFites but within professional sports, unions largely exist to excuse what would otherwise be labor and antitrust violations. This is why during bargaining their biggest negotiating lever is threatening to decertify. Don't take my word for it, even a former leader of the NFLPA and NBPA recommends "America’s major professional sports unions should permanently decertify and operate as trade associations instead.".
posted by pwnguin at 2:36 PM on December 21, 2022
and open the door to labor organization.
I know this excites MeFites but within professional sports, unions largely exist to excuse what would otherwise be labor and antitrust violations. This is why during bargaining their biggest negotiating lever is threatening to decertify. Don't take my word for it, even a former leader of the NFLPA and NBPA recommends "America’s major professional sports unions should permanently decertify and operate as trade associations instead.".
posted by pwnguin at 2:36 PM on December 21, 2022
If this leads to the death of NCAA as currently organized; I'm here for it.
posted by indianbadger1 at 2:43 PM on December 21, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by indianbadger1 at 2:43 PM on December 21, 2022 [4 favorites]
I'll be concerned about youth league sports when 1) you don't have to pay to play the sport, and 2) the games are carried nationally with billion dollar advertising contracts including using player likenesses for video games. I haven't seen either of those things happen yet. Hell, I had to pay nearly $600 the one year I decided to do city league curling. Nobody attended those sessions as spectators. If they had, that might have encouraged me to do it a second year.
posted by hippybear at 3:16 PM on December 21, 2022
posted by hippybear at 3:16 PM on December 21, 2022
> brent: "What's to keep going to High School athletes or junior high, and recruits to private high schools?"
I'm not super familiar with this part of American culture but are High School and Jr. High School athletics are run like business enterprises like NCAA Div I football and basketball are? I've heard that there are HS football stadiums in Texas that are super big and expensive but I'm not exactly sure how they get the money to build those things (ticket sales? donations? municipal bonds?)
posted by mhum at 4:01 PM on December 21, 2022
I'm not super familiar with this part of American culture but are High School and Jr. High School athletics are run like business enterprises like NCAA Div I football and basketball are? I've heard that there are HS football stadiums in Texas that are super big and expensive but I'm not exactly sure how they get the money to build those things (ticket sales? donations? municipal bonds?)
posted by mhum at 4:01 PM on December 21, 2022
If college athletes are employees, are athletic scholarships taxable? This piece says no. Would they be better off as independent contractors?
posted by Ideefixe at 4:21 PM on December 21, 2022
posted by Ideefixe at 4:21 PM on December 21, 2022
What's to keep going to High School athletes or junior high, and recruits to private high schools?
You know that "slippery slope" is actually a classification of a logical fallacy, yes? This won't have any effect on youth soccer leagues, for the same reason that kids building sand castles at the beach aren't much worried about OSHA violations or zoning variances.
posted by Mayor West at 5:00 PM on December 21, 2022 [4 favorites]
You know that "slippery slope" is actually a classification of a logical fallacy, yes? This won't have any effect on youth soccer leagues, for the same reason that kids building sand castles at the beach aren't much worried about OSHA violations or zoning variances.
posted by Mayor West at 5:00 PM on December 21, 2022 [4 favorites]
re: slippery slope - the IIHF (international ice hockey federation) has a really silly rule - "The rule requires players of all ages who are in member nations to secure a transfer from their country of birth to the country where they plan to live and play hockey. Without this transfer, players born outside Canada can't be on the roster of a Canadian team licensed by Hockey Canada. "
... that's being applied to 11 year old kids, ffs.
posted by porpoise at 2:45 PM on December 22, 2022
... that's being applied to 11 year old kids, ffs.
posted by porpoise at 2:45 PM on December 22, 2022
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posted by NoxAeternum at 1:33 PM on December 21, 2022 [3 favorites]