CAPA's reasons for standing up for the Northwestern players

On March 26th of 2014, Northwestern football players went before the National Labor Relations Board in Chicago, Illinois to gain employee status. They want adequate compensation for the revenue they bring to Northwestern and for the time they spend training year-round. In addition, they want the right of collective-bargaining so they will be better cared for by the NCAA and Northwestern. Kain Colter, with the College Athletes Players Association (CAPA) as acting petitioner, made a list of grievances against NCAA policies that they hope employee status can fix. They go on to compare different aspects of a Northwestern student-athlete’s life to that of an employee to further their position for unionization.

In their review of the Northwestern case, the NLRB wrote that the Northwestern players are playing for the benefit of the school, so they should be able to negotiate for pay. They make vasts amount of revenue for Northwestern from broadcasting contracts, merchandising, and licensing.

“Clearly, the Employer's players perform valuable services for their Employer. Monetarily, the Employer's football program generated revenues of approximately $235 million during the nine year period 2003 — 2012,” the National Labor Relations board's judge Peter Sung Ohr said in his analysis of the Northwestern case. 

The NLRB also wrote that player scholarships and scholarship agreements are like wages and work contracts. They argued that the Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald is like a boss, since within their scholarship agreements, he gives them demanding itineraries and punishes them if they don’t follow his schedule.

“In the instant case, the record establishes that the players who receive scholarships are under strict and exacting control by their Employer throughout the entire year. Commencing with training camp which begins approximately six weeks before the start of the academic year, the coaches exercise a great deal of control over the players,” the NLRB said.

CAPA contended that the NCAA takes poor care of their athletes, and that collective bargaining will lead to improved player care. Many players get severely injured while playing football, and the NCAA does not force schools to help them. This leaves the players with massive medical expenses, on top of their remaining school tuition.

“The NCAA recently stated in court papers that it ‘has no legal duty to protect college athletes’ from injury, and has failed to investigate and minimize concussion-related deaths,” CAPA said on their website.

“Currently, over $1.2 billion in NEW TV revenue is flooding NCAA sports yet players are too often stuck with sports-related medical expenses, can lose their scholarships if they are permanently injured, and “full” scholarships are capped by the NCAA below the cost of attendance by $3,000-$5,000 per player per year.”

The Northwestern players simply desire to be seen as employees and be properly taken care of. The outcome of this case will determine whether or not these demands are met. Without collective bargaining the players might not get the care or say they want in their college careers, and all the problems that CAPA has identified may remain in college athletics for a much longer time.

By: Austin Carvey and Kofi Odame