Have we talked about this NCPA suit against the NCAA, Pac-12 and member schools yet?

[BigBlueFanGA]

I don't think it's going anywhere, regardless of what Abruzzo thinks. But what a disaster if it got legs.

NCAA, Pac-12 Accused of Athlete Labor Violations in New Filing

By filing NLRB charges against the NCAA, Pac-12, UCLA and USC, the National College Players Association hopes to set a national precedent for the employee status of Division I athletes.

www.sportico.com

 

[The-Hack]

I suspect that in some ways, the Court’s recent NIL decision will stymie the unfair labor claims.

 

[OFortuna]

I suspect that in some ways, the Court’s recent NIL decision will stymie the unfair labor claims.

Maybe so. But get the right five star under oath and ask him if he had any "expectation of compensation" when he signed to take his talents to play for University X and the cracks in the foundation get even bigger. My expectation is that these issues will continue to dog college athletics; there's an obvious vulnerability, and just too much money, at least at the upper levels, to be ignored.

 

[UKnCincy]

I suspect that in some ways, the Court’s recent NIL decision will stymie the unfair labor claims.

I’m not so sure about that, but admittedly, I’m not someone who specializes in labor law so I certainly could be wrong.

To me, the Alston case and this case are about two separate issues (i.e., antitrust vs labor law). So the Alston decision shouldn’t be a significant factor positively or negatively on this case, other than perhaps some of the Supreme Court’s language that I believe might be considered dicta may foreshadow how the court would view this separate issue about employment status.

I know Abruzzo referenced Alston when stating some student athletes were employees, but I think that was a bit of political grandstanding.

I’m also not sure that the decision to include UCLA in this lawsuit was a smart one. On the surface, I understand their reasoning, but I’m wondering if that also gives the NLRB an easy out to punt on this again. The NLRB doesn’t have jurisdiction over public institutions.

The strategy that has been successful on the antitrust side has been to steadily chip away, bit by bit. Trying to get an NLRB decision that applies to both public and private universities strikes me as more of a blitzkrieg strategy. Declaring student athletes to be employees would be a seismic shift, and I’m not sure you can get there this quickly via courts or regulatory agencies.

Again though, I’m not an expert in labor law so I could be totally wrong.

 

[3632]

I don't particularly care for unionization but this feels like a train that is coming eventually. Once the NIL money was out there then the sharks come out and revisit because money is there for the unions to take. It's all about money.

That being said, and I would have a past post or two on this from months ago, I also believe some version of unions may be the only way that order will be brought to this new environment. It feels to me the only way to reign in how the NIL is being done is to have a "collective agreement". I also think this leads to the super conference idea being bantered about for years because only a few conferences can have similar terms in an agreement. The other option would be that each conference ends up with it's own unions and player contracts. I don't like the general idea of it all but I just don't see a way off this path at this point. It may take 5-10 years to get there but I think that's where this all goes.

 

[bigblueinsanity]

This is what people warned about. By using some of the employee type analogy, it was an awful Pandora's box to open.

It could even go so far as them having to eventually claim on taxes fair market value for their food, etc.

 

[The-Hack]

But get the right five star under oath and ask him if he had any "expectation of compensation" when he signed to take his talents to play for University X and the cracks in the foundation get even bigger.

And if he is talking pre-NIL, that he expected (and received) financial compensation, he opens troubles of his own for taxation.

 

[BigBlueFanGA]

Maybe so. But get the right five star under oath and ask him if he had any "expectation of compensation" when he signed to take his talents to play for University X and the cracks in the foundation get even bigger. My expectation is that these issues will continue to dog college athletics; there's an obvious vulnerability, and just too much money, at least at the upper levels, to be ignored.

That isn't what is meant by "expectation of compensation". Players are not paid for play, therefore there can be no expectation of compensation.