Dartmouth Men’s Basketball Team Votes to Unionize, Challenging NCAA’s Amateur Model
In a groundbreaking move, the Dartmouth men’s basketball team has voted to unionize, marking a significant challenge to the NCAA’s amateur business model. The players, led by juniors Cade Haskins and Romeo Myrthil, voted 13-2 in favor of joining the Service Employees International Union Local 560, which already represents some Dartmouth workers. This historic decision has the potential to reshape the landscape of college athletics and has dealt another blow to the NCAA’s deteriorating amateur model.
The election, supervised by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in the school’s human resources offices, saw every player on the roster participate in the vote. Reflecting on their victory, Haskins and Myrthil expressed their satisfaction with the outcome. “Today is a big day for our team,” they said. “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.”
However, Dartmouth quickly appealed to the full NLRB, seeking to overturn the regional official’s decision that the players are employees and thus entitled to unionize. Both sides have until March 12 to file objections with the NLRB over the election procedures. If no objections are filed, the SEIU will be certified as the workers’ bargaining representative. In the event of a federal court involvement, negotiations over a collective bargaining agreement could be delayed until after the current members of the basketball team have graduated.
Dartmouth had warned students that unionizing could result in the team being expelled from the Ivy League or even the NCAA. The school maintained that the players are students, not employees. However, recent court decisions have challenged the NCAA’s long-standing claim that players are “student-athletes” primarily in school to study. The multibillion-dollar college sports industry has left players unpaid while coaches and schools reap the rewards. The decision at Dartmouth threatens to upend this amateur model.
Cade Haskins believes that this is just the beginning and that other cases across the country will follow suit. “I think this is going to have a domino effect on other cases across the country, and that could lead to other changes,” he said. A separate complaint is currently being heard by the NLRB, asking for football and basketball players at Southern California to be deemed employees of their school, the Pac-12 conference, and the NCAA.
The NCAA responded to the unionization vote, stating that athletes should not be forced into an employment model. The association acknowledged that change is needed in college sports but emphasized the importance of working with Congress to make necessary reforms. Law professor Marc Edelman believes that even if Dartmouth succeeds in stopping the players from unionizing, it is unlikely to prevent similar movements at higher-profile, revenue-generating college sports programs.
The vote at Dartmouth took approximately an hour, with all players casting their ballots. The NLRB representative declared voting closed at 1 p.m. Media and observers were then allowed into the room, where NLRB agent Hilary Bede sorted the folded yellow ballots into “Yes” and “No” piles. Despite all 15 players signing a letter supporting the unionization effort, the 13-2 vote was seen as a clear victory by labor advocates.
Tony Clark, executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, commended the players for their courage and leadership in advancing the rights of college athletes. He stated that by voting to unionize, these athletes now have a powerful voice with which to negotiate for rights and benefits that have been ignored for far too long.
The potential impact of a college athletes union is unprecedented in American sports. Previous attempts to unionize, such as the failed effort by the Northwestern football team, were hindered by the jurisdiction of the NLRB, which does not cover public schools. The academically oriented Ivy League, where players do not receive athletic scholarships and games are streamed online, poses a significant threat to the NCAA’s amateur model.
Dan Hurley, coach of the defending national champion UConn men’s team, believes that unionization and treating players as employees is the future of college basketball. Haskins and Myrthil, who already have part-time jobs on campus, expressed their desire to form an Ivy League Players Association that would include athletes from other sports and schools in the conference. While they understand that change may come too late to benefit them and their current teammates, they remain hopeful that the movement will continue to grow.
The Dartmouth men’s basketball team’s decision to unionize has sent shockwaves through the college sports world. As the battle between players and the NCAA intensifies, it remains to be seen how