A new bill from Congressional Democrats would allow college athletes to unionize, making it possible for students from across universities to band together to form unions within athletic conferences.
The bill from Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) would rewrite federal labor law to define all college athletes receiving scholarships and other pay as employees of both public and private universities, in what would be a significant reimagining of the college sports landscape.
It would open a door to athletes receiving additional compensation from colleges by bargaining over wages, working conditions, revenue sharing agreements, and other rights afforded to employees.
The bill, called the College Athlete Right to Organize Act, is unlikely to pass in the current Congress, which has shown little appetite for such legislation. A companion bill introduced by three House Democrats has also not found any Republican co-sponsors.
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But it represents another shift in what has become a fast-evolving landscape: the debate over college athletes’ rights and their treatment by schools and the NCAA.
In the past two years, state legislatures have rushed to permit athletes to earn money from the use of their personal brands, by appearing in advertisements or signing sponsorship deals.
The state legislation, as well as a pending case on similar matters in front of the Supreme Court, has forced the hand of the NCAA, which has long argued that college athletes should be barred from earning money. And it has also created substantial momentum in Congress to pass federal legislation that would set a single standard across states for how athletes can earn income, rather than a patchwork of conflicting state laws.
Both Republicans and Democrats support some form of “name, image and likeness” bill, though there is still a significant gap between the two parties about how broad the legislation should be.
In a statement Thursday, Sanders linked the right of athletes to form a union to the fight to earn money through their personal brands.
“College athletes are workers. They deserve pay, a union, and to own their own name, image, and likeness. We cannot wait for the NCAA to share its billions with the workers who create it,” he said. “It is long past time we gave these workers the rights they deserve.”
While there is some chance that a name, image and likeness bill could garner bipartisan support in Congress, the bill from Sanders and Murphy will face much steeper odds.
In 2015, an attempt by football players at Northwestern to form a union was dismissed by the National Labor Relations Board, which adjudicates labor disputes. The federal board chose, essentially, not to rock the boat, acknowledging that allowing athletes to unionize would have broad impacts on the landscape of college sports.
But college athletics have shifted substantially in recent years, and Sanders and Murphy’s bill is a sign that eventually, the right to form a union — and, as employees, to potentially earn pay or share in the revenues they earn — may become another central focus of the college athletes’ rights movement.
A congressional aide said the bill would not make athletes subject to minimum wage laws, and colleges would only be legally required to pay them if they agreed to it in collective bargaining. It would “open the door,” the aide said, to “bargain with their colleges or across colleges within a conference to negotiate things like better pay via sharing the revenues they produce.”
Last year, Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) introduced a bill called the College Athletes’ Bill of Rights, which would address athletes’ medical expenses and extend scholarships in addition to increasing their earning power.
Sanders and Murphy’s bill specifically targets the NCAA, which oversees college sports, arguing that “college athletes face exploitative and unfair labor practices by the National Collegiate Athletic Association.”
The NCAA and its members, the bill says, “have denied college athletes a fair wage for their labor by colluding to cap compensation.”
The bill from Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) would rewrite federal labor law to define all college athletes receiving scholarships and other pay as employees of both public and private universities, in what would be a significant reimagining of the college sports landscape.
It would open a door to athletes receiving additional compensation from colleges by bargaining over wages, working conditions, revenue sharing agreements, and other rights afforded to employees.
The bill, called the College Athlete Right to Organize Act, is unlikely to pass in the current Congress, which has shown little appetite for such legislation. A companion bill introduced by three House Democrats has also not found any Republican co-sponsors.
ADVERTISING
But it represents another shift in what has become a fast-evolving landscape: the debate over college athletes’ rights and their treatment by schools and the NCAA.
In the past two years, state legislatures have rushed to permit athletes to earn money from the use of their personal brands, by appearing in advertisements or signing sponsorship deals.
The state legislation, as well as a pending case on similar matters in front of the Supreme Court, has forced the hand of the NCAA, which has long argued that college athletes should be barred from earning money. And it has also created substantial momentum in Congress to pass federal legislation that would set a single standard across states for how athletes can earn income, rather than a patchwork of conflicting state laws.
Both Republicans and Democrats support some form of “name, image and likeness” bill, though there is still a significant gap between the two parties about how broad the legislation should be.
In a statement Thursday, Sanders linked the right of athletes to form a union to the fight to earn money through their personal brands.
“College athletes are workers. They deserve pay, a union, and to own their own name, image, and likeness. We cannot wait for the NCAA to share its billions with the workers who create it,” he said. “It is long past time we gave these workers the rights they deserve.”
While there is some chance that a name, image and likeness bill could garner bipartisan support in Congress, the bill from Sanders and Murphy will face much steeper odds.
In 2015, an attempt by football players at Northwestern to form a union was dismissed by the National Labor Relations Board, which adjudicates labor disputes. The federal board chose, essentially, not to rock the boat, acknowledging that allowing athletes to unionize would have broad impacts on the landscape of college sports.
But college athletics have shifted substantially in recent years, and Sanders and Murphy’s bill is a sign that eventually, the right to form a union — and, as employees, to potentially earn pay or share in the revenues they earn — may become another central focus of the college athletes’ rights movement.
A congressional aide said the bill would not make athletes subject to minimum wage laws, and colleges would only be legally required to pay them if they agreed to it in collective bargaining. It would “open the door,” the aide said, to “bargain with their colleges or across colleges within a conference to negotiate things like better pay via sharing the revenues they produce.”
Last year, Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) introduced a bill called the College Athletes’ Bill of Rights, which would address athletes’ medical expenses and extend scholarships in addition to increasing their earning power.
Sanders and Murphy’s bill specifically targets the NCAA, which oversees college sports, arguing that “college athletes face exploitative and unfair labor practices by the National Collegiate Athletic Association.”
The NCAA and its members, the bill says, “have denied college athletes a fair wage for their labor by colluding to cap compensation.”
