Division 1 Men's College Basketball Team Attempting To Unionize
INDIANAPOLIS, IN - MARCH 29: A detail of NCAA Official Wilson basketballs are seen racked up on the court prior to Oregon playing against Louisville during the Midwest Region Semifinal round of the 2013 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Lucas Oil Stadium on March 29, 2013 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
Men's basketball players from Dartmouth have started the process of forming a union.
On Wednesday, 15 players from the school's program filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to unionize. The effort could have massive ramifications across college sports.
This isn't the first college team to seek a union. Northwestern's football team attempted to unionize in 2014, but the NLRB struck down those efforts because it only has control over the private sector.
Head coach Pat Fitzgerald opposed union efforts, arguing in a letter that players would be "transferring your trust from those you know — me, your coaches, and the administrators here — to what you don’t know." The school fired him earlier this year after allegations of rampant hazing and racism within the football program.
Michael Hsu, an advocate for college athletes, filed a complaint with the NLRB amid the scandal.
"This situation is just ripe to be looked at again," Hsu told Front Office Sports in July. "We know a lot of [abuse] would have been avoidable. … And frankly, the crazy thing is, it’s the same coach."
In 2021, NLRB lawyer Jennifer Abruzzo released a memo classifying college athletes in revenue-producing sports at private schools as employees. She claimed they should have the ability to unionize and negotiate workplace conditions in the evolving NIL landscape.
"The freedom to engage in far-reaching and lucrative business enterprises makes players at academic institutions much more similar to professional athletes who are employed by a team to play a sport, while simultaneously pursuing business ventures to capitalize on their fame and increase their income," Abruzzo wrote.
Dartmouth's filing could provide the first test of unionizing in college sports since this declaration, and other athletes are likely watching closely.
