Northwestern football players seek to join union

I am having a hard time understanding how this would be the ruin of college football. Presumably schools will continue to have teams. Beyond that, what's the difference? Is a fan's enjoyment of the game so completely dependent on believing the players are making no money? The only thing I can see detracting from the experience is if a player didn't even have to be a student at the school.

To anything else you might think will happen -- recruiting wars, cheating, the arms race -- it's already happening.

 

I just wonder how you determine eligibility once you determine they are employees.

Can a job force you to take classes, and maintain certain grades? Can a job enforce an age limit, or limit you to four (five) years on the job?

 

If the NFL and NBA can set a minimum age, I don't see why the NCAA couldn't set a maximum age.

 

Has any other industry been able to do it?

I think flight attendants used to have a max age -- and foreign/Asian carriers still do, I think -- but, that's long gone. Even if enrollment is required, why couldn't I keep taking classes, and keep playing?

Why wouldn't someone like Eric Crouch play college football forever, it he could, and was getting paid?

And, how do you keep out guys that flunked out of pro football from coming back.

And, see, I don't care. I think it's going to be fun to watch come down. I'm not saying players should not be paid, I just think it's going to change a lot more than people think.

 

Just some of the many questions in this Pandora's box. If players are at a state school will they allow a private union or will
they have to be part of the state union? If the cafeteria workers are on strike will the union players cross the picket line?

Will a unionized school play a non unionized school? How do right to work laws come into play?

 

There's some unanswered questions and, clearly, some things will need to be worked out but some of the scenarios getting thrown out border on the silly.

There's no maximum age for college players now. That's why BYU is able to regularly field teams of guys in their mid-20s or colleges all over get the 30-something quarterback who played a decade of minor-league baseball.

So athletes will still be on a clock with a maximum of 10 semester, with exceptions, for being on a team.

And while unions could cause problems, the presence of them could also fix may of the somewhat obvious problems with athletes playing revenue sports.

 

Really? Check again. (And, we're talking about NCAA D1.)

 

I'm pretty sure he's correct. Brandon Weeden was 28 his last year at Oklahoma State. Chris Weinke was 28 when he won the Heisman. I think you get five years from when you start your college career, but those guys started late because they were playing pro baseball.

 

Currently, once you enroll in college, your clock starts ticking.

You might be able to avoid an age (time) limit, if you never enroll in college, but that's unrealistic for most prospective D1 athletes, unless they turned pro, which currently makes them ineligible.

 

In the end this will turn into a money grab by unions and union lawyers again on the backs of the players.

The players will have no money so the unions and lawyers will have to fund to fight on
contingency.

Also not so sure how excited all players would be to join a union. If you are going into to senior
year at your school you don't want to see a disruption that will not benefit you.

 

If the governor of the state does not like how the union is performing can he fire them all ?

 

Yeah, Weinke is a rare exception, since he was a pro, but in another sport.

And, there are exemptions to the time limit for military and religious (BYU) service.

But, for 99% of athletes, the time limit is an age limit.