NCAA Sports Alert

From Chicago Tribune:

Northwestern University football players are employees of the school and are therefore entitled to a union election. Peter Sung Ohr, the regional director of the National Labor Relations Board, is expected to rule on Wednesday, sources told the Tribune.

Ohr’s decision is expected to be appealed to the NLRB in Washington. Labor experts say an election is unlikely to take place until the NLRB makes a decision. If Ohr’s decision is upheld, the case would likely make its way through federal appellate court and could reach the Supreme Court.

The sources spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of the NLRB’s expected release of the decision today.

If I understand this right, university athletes will be employees in a union, which means they can negotiate for salaries, which means the buckets of money the major programs bring in and which is used for the school and not as payment to the employed athletes… well, it means the athlete-employees may well get a serious pay raise!

Eventually, of course, as this has to go through the court system.