Not sure who knows of it, but the Dartmouth Basketball team was recognized as employees by the NLB (National Labor Board). The teams next move is to vote on creating a union.
If student athletes across the US are recognized as employees, I think the ramifications are obvious. However, something that is rarely discussed is how the smaller schools will act if its student athletes are officially classified as employees.
You constantly see that "people make billions" off athletes but that isn't the case for vast majority of student athletes. People get so caught up in the Big 10, SEC and B12's of the world but the reality is, the majority (90-95%) of student athletes bring zero revenue to their schools and if anything, cost the schools money.
Dartmouth is about $63k a year - not including books, room and board. I'm imagining that the student employees will get state minimum. Better than nothing I guess. If Dartmouth wanted to prove a point- they could just pay them minimum wage and tell the new employees they have to pay full tuition. I doubt schools do that because they would basically kill the team, but still. I should also mention the Ivy League does not offer athletic scholarships. Don't assume aid packages cover each athletes expenses - they don't.
The other thing is - all student athletes would have to be paid at least the state minimum. So if a states minimum wage is $7.25 and they work 30 hours a week that's $10440 a year for 48 weeks per athlete.That's over $3m for 300 athletes. Sounds like a small amount, but that's a big number for most schools outside of the P4.
It will be interesting to see what the non-P4 schools do. Maybe small schools drop some sports, or offer reduced financial aid packages.
https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/how-a-ruling-that-dartmouth-basketball-players-are-school-employees-can-join-union-may-change-college-sports/
If student athletes across the US are recognized as employees, I think the ramifications are obvious. However, something that is rarely discussed is how the smaller schools will act if its student athletes are officially classified as employees.
You constantly see that "people make billions" off athletes but that isn't the case for vast majority of student athletes. People get so caught up in the Big 10, SEC and B12's of the world but the reality is, the majority (90-95%) of student athletes bring zero revenue to their schools and if anything, cost the schools money.
Dartmouth is about $63k a year - not including books, room and board. I'm imagining that the student employees will get state minimum. Better than nothing I guess. If Dartmouth wanted to prove a point- they could just pay them minimum wage and tell the new employees they have to pay full tuition. I doubt schools do that because they would basically kill the team, but still. I should also mention the Ivy League does not offer athletic scholarships. Don't assume aid packages cover each athletes expenses - they don't.
The other thing is - all student athletes would have to be paid at least the state minimum. So if a states minimum wage is $7.25 and they work 30 hours a week that's $10440 a year for 48 weeks per athlete.That's over $3m for 300 athletes. Sounds like a small amount, but that's a big number for most schools outside of the P4.
It will be interesting to see what the non-P4 schools do. Maybe small schools drop some sports, or offer reduced financial aid packages.
https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/how-a-ruling-that-dartmouth-basketball-players-are-school-employees-can-join-union-may-change-college-sports/