The benefits of unionization for minor league baseball players

Most baseball fans understand that minor league players face difficulties making ends meet, but what they don’t understand is the extent of these obstacles. Most minor leaguers make less than minimum wage during the season, working 60-70 hours per week without overtime. Due to the low pay and long hours, players can’t even afford to live on their own. Many players live with host families who provide a room and a few other necessities for a cheap price.

Salary Stats // Matt Kuperman

“But even as Major League Baseball is booming, raking in more than $8 billion annually, these players are shut out from the profits.”  Ian Gordon said in a 2014 Mother Jones article. “Since 1976, the rock-bottom salary in the majors has gone up more than 2,500 percent; in the minors, it has gone up less than 70 percent. Starting pay for minor leaguers is between $1,100 and $2,150 a month, and only during the season, which can be as short as three months.”

The upside to having a union would be huge for all of the minor league baseball players, allowing them to make more money and have all the hours they work recognized. Taking a look at the A.H.L. (one of the minor leagues for the N.H.L.) that league has been greatly successful because the players make better wages along with housing allowances. Seeing the success of unions in other minor leagues proves that a union would be greatly accepted by minor league baseball players.

“The lifestyle of an AHL hockey player, relatively speaking, it's pretty good,” said A.H.L. hockey player Justin Florek in a 2015 Providence Journal article.

The negative impact for the minor league baseball teams is financial. One solution though would have the teams paying the players higher wages. One proposed idea to fix the problem of low wage was to increase players’ salaries incrementally each year the player is in the league.

“The first step was already stated. Increase the pay period to include spring training and the instructional league.” Robert M. Pimpsner said in a 2015 Pinstriped Prospects article. “Paying players for this extra time will go a long way to help alleviate the burden. Follow it up with a 25% salary increase the next season, a 20% increase the following season after that, a 15% increase after that and finally a 10% increase the fourth year. At the end of this four year period the minimum salary would have risen from the $1,150 to $2,182, combined with increased pay period will mean a first year players could go from $3,450 a year to over $8,000 annually.”

The low pay that minor leaguers endure have motivated Garrett Broshuis, to file a lawsuit against MLB. Broshuis had his own first hand experience of dealing with these problems because he was a pitcher for six years in the Giants farm system. His minor league peers experienced many financial difficulties on account of the small wage and no overtime. Once Broshuis attained his law degree, he sought to improve the conditions for all minor leaguers. Broshuis believes the conditions minor league players are forced into is atrocious and should be addressed by the league.

“One of my roommates was so starving when he came home he would take the ramen noodle and wouldn't take the time to cook them, just would run it under hot water for 30 seconds put the seasoning on it and chomp down. I wasn’t that desperate,” said Broshuis in a 2015 interview with HSMSE/Sports.

Broshuis finds the salary unlawful because the average minor league player works 60 to 70 hours per week, yet only receives between $1,100 - $2,150 per month. This makes housing and other such necessities difficult to attain. Broshuis believes this is a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The nationwide wide minimum wage stands at $7.25, yet according to Broshuis’ calculations minor league players make several dollars per hour less than this. This alleged violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act is the core of his lawsuit.

This article was co-authored by Bruce Mayfield.

How will college football change if Jeffrey Kessler's antitrust lawsuit succeeds?

Northwestern’s effort to unionize college football players will cause major changes to college football should it succeed. Unionizing will result in the scholarship players becoming employees and will cause financial issues to arise for the NCAA and colleges associated with it.

Many of the changes to college football will stem from the financial issues associated with the new employee status of the players. With the hundreds of football players in the NCAA, there will be a lot of extra money being spent if they become employees; however, it is still unclear how these financial issues will impact college football for the NCAA.

If student-athletes become employees, then the schools will have to pay extra expenses for them. These schools that are going to maintain Division I football teams are going to have to pay 20% in excess of the student’s tuition because of health care, pensions, disability insurance, and unemployment insurance. This is going to lead to a decrease in the amount of money that can be spent to maintain football teams across all divisions in the NCAA.

For the student-athletes, the status change from player to employee will also have its own effects. Colleges can offer its own financial backing plan for each athlete and players can choose which plan is best for them. As a result of that, colleges that have more of a financial backbone can pay for better players than those that do not.

“If you're USC or even Rice, you could say to a recruit, 'I know you're talking to these other two schools, but if you come here we'll pay your medical insurance for five years, plus you can collectively bargain for other things you want, plus if you graduate early you'll get extra dough in a trust fund, and perhaps you can capitalize off marketing value if you become our star quarterback,'” SMU athletic director, Rick Hart, said in a 2014 CbsSports.com article.

Taxes are also another problem that has to be considered. An athlete receives a scholarship to play for a team and study at school as a student. If they are going be employees of the school, the scholarship and wages that they will receive is taxable by the IRS. It would make it increasingly difficult for college football players to pay for and attend college because of the taxes they will be responsible for on both accounts.

"The fact that the players were not considered employees in the past is essentially the reason why their scholarship or parts of it weren't taxed before,” Garret Higgins, a partner of the Exempt Organization Tax and Advisory Services group, said in an ESPN article. ”The IRS may be able to make the argument that the scholarship is really payment for services, and therefore compensation, and is now taxable to the athlete.” 

Financial issues are only part of the reason as to why the changes are coming to college football in the NCAA, but its impact is going to be felt immediately. Smaller universities may not be able to pay as much as larger ones, widening the skill difference across Division 1 athletics. Some student-athletes may find it harder to attend college because of the taxes they are required to pay.  If this lawsuit passes, the NCAA will find their profits cut by a large margin if they want to continue college athletics.

Written by Allan Lee and Sean Santiago

What if college athletes get paid?

Northwestern University/Michael Barera-Wikimedia.commons

The death of the National Collegiate Athletic Association elite student-athlete is fast approaching. The unionization movement by the football players at Northwestern University could lead to athletes receiving a salary. If student-athletes are paid, the whole economic system of the NCAA will change.

If the football players get a salary and added benefits, there will be cutbacks in the resources in colleges that are not on the top of the NCAA. Title IX will play a role in this because all students will need to receive equal benefits from the unionization.

“How will schools pay for pay and benefits to scholarship student-athletes, Title IX considerations, workers’ compensation insurance and increased taxes due to loss of tax-exempt status,” Glenn Wong, a professor at the University of Massachusetts, said in a 2014 NYTimes.com article. “For 23 schools in Division I, it will be easy.”

All other Division I schools will have trouble financing pay for their athletes. These schools will have to reduce the coaches’ and administrators’ salaries, and remove programs for other students just to pay the players.

The NCAA spends less than ten percent of its resources on both Division II and III colleges, but this will fall lower if student-athletes get paid. Even if Division II or III athletes don’t get paid, budgets could still be decreased. If Division I athletes receive a salary, then more of the NCAA’s resources must be spent to compensate for everyone’s salary.

“If that changed, our budgets would change,” Kris Diaz, the athletic director at Division III Baldwin Wallace, said in a 2014 dispatch.com article.

The best of the best athletes will receive higher salaries and more benefits, including better medical care for injuries and compensation. These added perks will only go to scholarship players not the walk-on players.

“There is no question but that the presence of a union would add tension in terms of creating an ‘us' versus ‘them' feeling between the players it would represent and those it would not," Fox News quoted Northwestern’s 21 page document in a 2014 article.

Contributed by: Nicholas Bohan and Velid Mulic