Northwestern players file petition to form a union

1. Get together with the players, their parents and other representatives to work out some reforms short of scrapping the amateurism system.  Perhaps adjustments to scholarship rules, larger cost of living payments, rules to protect injured players, rule changes around other sources of income, etc.  Generally try to work out some changes that keep college football from becoming a minor league with paid players while offering greater opportunities and protections to student athletes.  Actually involving the student athletes in the process instead of having a bunch of AD’s, coaches and presidents dictate what they are going to do would also be helpful.
2. Bring lawyers, guns and money

I suspect they will go with 2.

First of all, they are not labor but students.

Secondly, just what do they think they'll do?  Go on strike?  Newsflash, but there's probably hundreds of other students who'd happily suit up for their school and play a game on Saturday.

...isn't this a fine how-do-you-do?

Frankly, I find it ridiculous and it pisses me off. The universities are providing food, lodging, tuition, a quality eduction and a marketing platform for future professional sports careers to these piss-ant prima donnas and in return, the universities get a big fat "IT AIN'T GOOD ENOUGH FOR US, BITCHES!"

To hell with these brats.

These players are going to have another thing coming if they think they can earn a salary in 3-4 years in college that will sustain them the rest of their lives... Most of these guys will NOT be playing in the pros and if the Cardale Jones attitude stays consistent, they will not finish college and will be pushed back into the workforce...

My message is that these guys do not need to be paid one cent.  They are literally being handed a free key to their future beyond athletics... I will be graduating high school next year, and I am extraordinarily envious of the opportunities these athletes get being able to go to college for absolutely nothing. Let me tell you, I think its absolutely ridiculous that my 4.0 unweighted GPA will get me maybe half off tuition to the schools I want to attend while these athletes get to go to the colleges I want to attend for free... 

I understand that athletics are what brings in revenue, but these guys need to be gracious for the opportunities they already get.

All the things they're asking for seem completely reasonable, and frankly, probably something universities should offer from even a humanitarian stand point.  And even a cut of jersey sales wouldn't be enough to tip the 'fairness' when it comes to recruting and such.  I think SI or someone did a whole peice when Manziel made a big deal about his jersey, and he would get something like $48 dollars in the end. 

The bigger question is how this will affect all the other sports universities run,and who it would affect smaller schools.  How many sports does UM have?  And how many actually make money?  I've always been under the impression that like football/basketball basically fund the 20something other non-revenue sports.  And still has money left over to provide the student athletes with the best facilties in the country.  What about tiny schools?  One of the joys about college basketball is that so many schools can fund a decent basketball team.  But what if they start having to set up trust funds for future education and injuries, as well as increased stipends for ALL sports.  I wonder if the women's field hockey teams a small school who are getting a free education are happy with this development. 

Very interesting developements.  It'll be interesting to see where it goes.  And frankly, UM is big enough that they'll make it work.  Probably.  Just means that manditory donation to the AD would probably go up.

Wait, the rowing team is not forming a union to receive their just ecomonic value?

Funny how you always hear people worry about the slippery slope, as if we can avoid it.  We're already on it.  Everything in life is fluid.  Even if the move to unionize is utterly defeated, these issues aren't going away.

I think college football could go a long, long way to helping itself just by taking all of the profit it generates and setting aside X amount to provide some sort of health insurance/long term football-related health care funding.  Now it's much harder to complain about the players being exploited in terms of health or finances, and you're paying players in a way that neither gives recruiting advantages nor robs them of their precious, precious "amateurism."

Given the current wave of criticism surrounding football injuries, this seems like a glaringly obvious move.  So of course it won't happen.

Apparently Kain will be on ESPN at 12:30 ET today addressing this.  Should be interesting.

I'm all for adding protections for player safety, but let's not pretend that student athletes aren't already compensated, with the VAST majority being compensated FAR in excess of any revenue they generate for the university. Giving players a "cut" of that revenue will only serve to reward a small percentage of student athletes while hurting all of the others. Those few athletes that will benefit from pay are the same athletes most likely to get paid exorbitant salaries when they go pro. The system isn't perfect, but paying players only creates MORE problems. Give this article a read: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffreydorfman/2013/08/29/pay-college-athletes-theyre-already-paid-up-to-125000year/

an effort by players to receive compensation for their work on the behalf of the schools they represent. The NCAA set up workplace conditions and the system student-athletes operate under without real voice from student athletes themselves in order to preserve the idea of ameturism and guard against the unwarranted influence of financial remuneration corrupting college competition through collusion with boosters and gamblers. 

And they were right to do so because history has demonstrated those influences clouding the integrity of this competition in both college football and basketball, the primary revenue sports and highest profile events on any college campus in America. 

But in so doing, the NCAA over time, has continued to remove the student-athletes from the real financial equation in the financial growth of these sports and the money made by universities through the exposure of their programs on television and in the marketplace. 

This has occurred in part because of tradtional practices and recognized roles of those who participate and those who provide education through this process. But when scholarships aren't guaranteed, when athletes are asked to make both educational compromises while pursuing their scholarship sport on a fulltime basis without contractual requirement that the university honor their commitment for the duaration of their scholarship, then the student-athlete's rights are at risk, from a variety of standpoints. 

The school can never guarantee any athlete that upon graduation they will experience successful entry in any career aim that is studied at their campus, but they sell that idea and belief. The school is also not responsible if a player gets injured in the course of his scholarship career or finds himself only a role performer on a roster. The only requirement the school is providing is paying the daily expenses of room, board and education of an athlete while he is an enrolled student in qualified, good standing at his school. 

They can rescind that agreement or the student can seek a release, but the option is always in favor of the institution because the deal worked out by the NCAA benefits schools whom they represent, not athletes, who are simply part of the regulatory process but not represented. 

This is what these Northwestern athletes are seeking to change, gaining recognition as part of the contractual process as equal partners in the decision-making process, ensuring their rights as student-athletes are protected and served however those issues are perceived from their standpoint. I have no idea what their agenda is. 

But one thing they ought to help curb is the very debate issue a few threads below on athlete oversigning and cutting by schools, which, in essence, is a professional practice that violates the very notion of ameturism and serving student athletes who sacrifice for the greater good of their university. 

The only reason this issue hasn't gone forward is because the athletes have never organized in pursuit of their rights the bargaining process. 

You don't think the NCAA and its members haven't seen this coming? That's what this pending lawsuit seeks to correct in the past, and what collective bargaining by a real student union could ensure in the future. 

For the simple reason that there is so much uncertainty of who's playing by the rules (running a clean program) and who's cheating (paying players), I would LOVE to "lift the curtain" so to speak so everyone is playing by the same rules.

The fact that one school could be winning conference titles and championships on the back of player payments, while a rival is running a clean program really bothers me and frankly, is dampening my interest in college football.

College football needs transparency. "Good guys" running clean programs get penalized and rewarded. It's like steroid use in baseball vs guys not using, at least until they cleaned that up.

IMO, the end game of this isn't the earth shattering end of NCAA as we know it type of thing.  Probably ends up with some kind of player advocacy framework within the NCAA.

Borrowing from the Ballad of Borges, (and really, I just did this for the final line)

There is unrest in the Big Ten
There is trouble with the Cats
For the players want more dollars
And the NCAA ignores their pleas

The trouble with the Cats
(And they're quite convinced they're right)
They say the NCAA is just too lofty
And they grab up all the profits
But the NCAA can't help their feelings
If they like the money they've made
And they wonder why the Cats
Can't be happy with their stipends

There is trouble in the Big Ten
And the amateurs all have fled
As the Cats scream 'Oppression!'
And the NCAA just shakes its head

So the Wildcats formed a union
And demanded equal rights
'The NCAA is just too greedy
We will make them give us height'
Now there's no more NCAA oppression
For they passed a noble law
And the Cats are all kept equal
By Horford, Spike and Stau

This is interesting, and I agree with the sentiment. Although I don't think college players should get paid (I think it minimizes the value of the education they're getting for free), I do agree that they should be able to represent themselves, and not be treated like a commodity.

... it amazes me how myopic people's opinions are about unions and what a visceral reaction it causes.  

I personally support any effort by players to get a larger share of the income being generated by their extraordinary dedication.  I would prefer that distribution be towards incentives such as life time educational grants, grants for your children, and other incentives that aren't purely monetary, but I'm being naive.  

In short we have a horribly broken system where really old white guys make millions of dollars off of mostly really poor minorities who receive worthless degrees and little in the way of life skills that college is supposed to provide to you.  Dance around it all you want, but that's what is happening. 

I wish them luck and hope the system is improved so those that generate the income get a better share of it.  I'm in full support.