Senators Say Northwestern Unionization Effort Prompts Importa...

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Senators Say Northwestern Unionization Effort Prompts Important

Questions
By Meredith Shiner
Roll Call Staff
Jan. 31, 2014, 12:21 p.m.

Lawmakers could intensify debate on a historic attempt by Northwestern University football

players to become the first college athletes to unionize, from holding highly visible Capitol Hill
hearings to potentially expanding federal labor laws to protect the rights of student-athletes.
Beltway politicians often have weighed in on, and to some degree shaped, sports policy. In the
past decade alone, Congress has amplified the public dialogue on steroids in baseball, the
college football bowl system and concussions in the National Football League, often to the
chagrin of the leagues involved. The national debate over whether college athletes are entitled to
the benefits other employees receive could prove no different.
Ive always said, they ought to consider paying players because the coach gets millions of dollars
and the player gets nothing. I think we ought to consider compensation, said Sen. John McCain,
R-Ariz., an avid sports fan. I dont see unionization getting that far, but if they want to try, thats
fine.
The politicians, lobbyists, labor organizations and lawyers approached by CQ Roll Call for this
story all seemed to believe the question of whether college athletes are entitled to more rights
from health care benefits to scholarship guarantees and even payment is worth asking.

Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call File Photo

Blumenthal, a member of the Judiciary Committee, said his

panel would have partial jurisdiction over the studentathlete employment question. The Connecticut Democrat
said the panel should consider looking into the issue.

It will all boil down to an essential fight between the powerful National Collegiate Athletic Association and its detractors over the definition of employee
and whether that designation fits the more than 400,000 NCAA student-athletes. In 2012, the NCAA generated more than $870 million in revenue.
Theres no difference in the way professional and college sports are managed these days. If you look at the BCS Championship and the Super Bowl,
the only difference is that after the BCS Championship, the players go to class the next day said ESPN college basketball analyst Jay Bilas, who is also
a lawyer at the firm Moore and Van Allen in Charlotte, N.C.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., a member of the Judiciary Committee, said the panel would have at least partial jurisdiction over the student-athlete
employment question and should consider looking into the issue.
College athletics more and more seems to involve elements of quid pro quo that can be compensation and may give students rights of employees even
if they dont have the full measure of compensation that full-time workers may have in other contexts, Blumenthal said.
Id be very interested in exploring it and even broadening the law if necessary to give more rights to student-athletes because the blunt fact is that they
are in a very unequal bargaining position when it comes to their rights and interests, Blumenthal said. They are in many ways compensated by schools
for playing sports, but they have no real rights in that bargaining process and their rights deserve great respect legally as well as practically.
But Sen. Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill., also a member of the Judiciary Committee, does not see as much nuance in the case.
Its hard for me to wrap my head around the idea that theyre employees and would be part of a labor organization, he said.
Durbin has a particular interest in the players attempt to unionize, beyond the fact they filed at the Chicago office of the National Labor Relations Board,
because a large part of the players complaint was about access to health care. Durbin held hearings in 2012 on concussions in the NFL and introduced
legislation to create youth concussion laws in 2013.
There are legitimate player issues relative to the economics of college football, the compensation of any players and theyre strictly limited now
and the concussion protocols, Durbin told CQ Roll Call. At the best schools, [athletes] generate a huge amount of revenue for the school, and I think
they need to be treated accordingly.
Still, the players face long odds against the multibillion-dollar interests of the NCAA, which does not pay nor extend benefits beyond tuition to the
athletes who play a significant role in generating its cash flow.
Bilas gave several examples of how the athletes could make their employment case, which he admitted would be a long legal slog. He cited college

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baseball and hockey players already drafted and under contract with professional teams. And he noted that in recent weeks, there have been NCAA
basketball games in which players still played even though students classes were canceled as result of massive snowstorms and freezing
temperatures.
The NCAA wants to say theyre not a cartel, but they are. ... All of the athletes, revenue and non-revenue, theyre being exploited. Everyone else is
making fair-market value for what they do, every student, every administrator, every coach. Thats exploitation.
Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., illustrated Bilas first point with an example from his home state. University of North Dakota hockey, almost every year, they
have underclassmen drafted by NHL teams that can go professional after two years of college and get professional contracts. Now, that doesnt happen
sometimes, that happens every single year and sometimes [for] four and five players, he said. So the fact that this whole discussion is reaching into
collegiate levels, whether its football or hockey, you pick a sport, is not surprising.
Like most powerful sports entities, the NCAA has a Washington lobbying presence, which certainly would engage if Congress were to take up this issue.
In an email, NCAA Director of Public Affairs Stacey Osbourn told CQ Roll Call, Our DC contacts are available to answer any questions they may receive
from the Hill.
Though legislative recourse might be difficult, according to multiple sources, the most significant way lawmakers could grow the issue is just by talking
about it. One K Street source familiar with sports lobbying pointed to the dual tracks any issue can take legislative and public relations and noted
that most sports questions have gravitated toward the publicity side of that equation. That approach is especially attractive in this case, the source said,
because it involves players at a Chicago-area university who could draw the attention of home-state President Barack Obama. Obama, who says he
watches SportsCenter daily, has weighed in on college football issues, such as the playoff question, and a visit from the players to D.C. would not go
unnoticed.
Given the involvement of national labor groups, which are looking to expand membership for their influence to survive, that D.C. echo-chamber effect
could be coming soon.
Too many athletes who generate huge sums of money for their universities still struggle to pay for basic necessities, and too many live in fear of losing
their scholarships due to injury or accident, Leo Gerard, president of the United Steelworkers union that is backing the Northwestern Wildcats players,
said in a statement. Our commitment to college athletes in their pursuit of basic protections will not cease.
Democrats could have a particular stake in this debate, not only because they are the party more philosophically aligned with the labor movement but
because they also are the party that profits from it. In 2012, for example, USW made $3.1 million in political contributions, all to Democrats, according to
data compiled by OpenSecrets.org. Union members have also been crucial for Democratic get-out-the-vote efforts, especially in the Midwest. In 2008,
when the current in-cycle senators were last on the ballot, USW gave $15,500 to Democrat Al Franken of Minnesota and $10,000 each to Tom Harkin of
Iowa, Tim Johnson of South Dakota and Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia. The group also spent $5,000 in Mary L. Landrieus race in Louisiana and
$5,000 in Michigan for Debbie Stabenow.
But the football players, unions and their supporters have a long way to go to secure the benefits theyre seeking. And although they might not get them
at all, theyre encouraged by the conversation and hoping it gets louder.

MeredithShiner@cqrollcall.com | @meredithshiner
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Curmudgeon10

9 months ago

It would seem people, and I include even Senators in that category, have better things to do with their time.
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Je

9 months ago

I was under the impression that full health and a $250,000 education was the compensation. Perhaps the answer is to dis-band all
college athletics and relegate these endevours to the intramural arena. Then again maybe the answer lies in the ability to impose a "
luxury " tax on the other paying students to help fund the new union. If we are to go down that path however , one might also
consider a 5 or 10 year guaranteed employment contract to further compensate the down trodden student athlete. In either respect
it's heartening to know that the good Senator from Connecticut has found a plan to divert attention away from the waking disaster
that has become national health care.
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1
JMH21

9 months ago

Since the players want to unionize we should just start treating college athletics for what they have become, money operations.
Make all money derived from gate receipts and media taxable income and donations to athletic departments non deductible. We
might actually get back to real amateur college athletics. I would also require a standardized test be developed each year and all
athletes have to pass the test for their year of college or be ineligible.
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Ocean Sprayz

8 months ago

Since civilization's institutions, such as liberty, can be hard to understand, it is not surprising that some get the itch to attack them.
Reply Share

Cool Ranch, Texas

9 months ago

Since we're all dierent, collectivist attempts to impose equality require that each of us be treated unequally.
Reply Share

Bundle Up

9 months ago

Although competition's virtues are proven by history, some rules and enforcement are important to help keep competitors from
falling prey to their primitive anti-competitive instincts.
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MrLogical

9 months ago

They are already compensated. The top D1 schools have tuition that averages somewhere in the $200k range - after taxes.
Assuming mommy and daddy had to pay that, it 's more like $275-300k pre-tax.
If they want to join a union, let 'em join the NFL or NBA.
This is nuts. It figures that Dickie "Where's The Camera?" Blumenthal would support it.
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