College Athletes Players Association Founder Ramogi Huma said that a ruling from the National Labor Relations Board on the Northwestern Univ. case could come any day. Northwestern appealed an earlier regional ruling that defined Northwestern’s scholarship football players as employees who can be represented by a union. The appeal went to the NLRB’s full board. Huma, who is president of the association that is seeking union representation for the players, said, “All sides have weighed in, all of the briefs have been filed, and a ruling could come at any moment. It could be tomorrow or it could be a year from now.” Huma said that if the NLRB sides with the university, the movement likely ends there. But if the NLRB upholds the ruling that the players are employees, the next step will be to announce the players’ vote at Northwestern on whether they want to unionize. The players voted on a union in April, but the votes have not been revealed. A union would negotiate for benefits and potentially pay on behalf of the players. If the Northwestern players voted against the union, the NLRB precedent would remain and players at other private schools like Northwestern could vote to unionize. Public schools would determine state by state whether their players are considered employees and if they’re eligible to unionize. Huma said that, if the NLRB rules that football players at Northwestern are employees, it could lead to wider efforts to unionize, perhaps at the school, conference or NCAA level. Huma was speaking this week at the CSE Sports Marketing Symposium in N.Y.
