We might have entered the next era of college sports. After college student-athletes were allowed to profit off their name, image, and likeness and are receiving compensation for the return of the EA Sports NCAA Football video game, there’s still one glaring issue in the relationship between student-athletes and institutions: colleges still don’t directly pay student-athletes.
Dartmouth University’s men’s basketball team decided to do something about the problem by voting to unionize. The Big Green voted 13-2 to unionize in a move to push the NCAA toward treating student-athletes like employees. The team is the first Division I team in history to unionize. In February, the National Labor Relations Board ruled players on the men’s basketball team are considered employees under U.S. labor law, which made them eligible to unionize.
“Because Dartmouth has the right to control the work performed by the Dartmouth men’s basketball team, and the players perform that work in exchange for compensation, I find that the petitioned-for basketball players are employees within the meaning of the [National Labor Relations] Act,” the 26-page decision, reviewed by Front Office Sports, read.
The players filed a case with the NLRB in September, represented by the local Service Employees International Union chapter.
“Today is a big day for our team,” Cade Haskins and Romeo Myrthil, two Big Green players, said in a statement, according to FOS. “We stuck together all season and won this election. It is self-evident that we, as students, can also be both campus workers and union members. Dartmouth seems to be stuck in the past. It’s time for the age of amateurism to end.”
The union could bring extra health benefits, limits on hours, overtime pay, and workers’ compensation. Dartmouth’s coaches have been respectful throughout the process to this point, Myrthil said.
Hours after the team voted to unionize, Dartmouth is scheduled to face Harvard in an Ivy League matchup against conference opponent Harvard at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN+.
