Andy Staples ($$) tossed out a possibility I hadn’t considered before.
… One of the more interesting ideas I’ve heard came from an athletic director who suggested athletes become employees of conferences, which are private entities and which would consolidate the jurisdiction for each collective bargaining agreement to a single state. That would allow leagues to negotiate with the athletes or their representatives and come to a compromise that both groups consider fair. They also could negotiate new rules to control player movement or anything else they’d like to address.
The more I think about it, that actually could work. Running it through the conferences avoids any Sherman Act problems and allows individual schools to maintain their “we’re not employers!” fig leaf. It also keeps the NCAA out of the equation, which may be the biggest plus of all.
I’d love to know who that AD is, because that’s a pretty sharp suggestion.
Get The Picture 
I can’t get the south west conference out of my head after reading that.
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Sankey
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Sankey seems smart enough to feed that to an AD and let them carry it to the media to test the waters. If it sinks, Sankey has deniability.
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Keep the NCAA out.
That Shines.
😉
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“Heaven let your light shine down”..
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I can imagine the surprise when the “employees” get a letter informing them they’ve been “transferred” to “another department.”
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I’ve been saying this for a couple of years now. I just don’t see how that doesn’t eventually mean a college football draft of those who commit to a conference unless a conference’s have-nots are ok with a conference’s haves getting all of the players. They are ok with it now because they compete for talent against each other. I don’t think you can be a player who signs with a school and be an employee of the conference.
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Huh.
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How does talent get allocated when the athlete commits to a conference and is bound by a CBA at the conference level? The reason the NCAA is in trouble is their former restrictions on outside income (NIL). The video games were the tip of the iceberg.
Maybe I’m dumb, but the only ways this works is to have a salary cap per school and/or a draft of players who commit to the conference.
Maybe they can do it, but the first time there’s a work stoppage I’m done.
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I don’t think the existence of an overarching bargaining unit would necessitate a draft.
Actors have a CBA with the entity known as the AMPTP. That Bargaining Unit represents the major studios, tech companies like Apple and Hulu, as well as hundreds of independents. When I work, I sign to that CBA with whatever producer is hiring me, but I am not signed to simply work for the AMPTP, and be drafted by studios/producers.
Also, I hope all work stoppages don’t immediately turn you against the labor unit seeking better wages or working conditions. Often, it’s the only tool the unit can utilize in order to get movement.
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Hey, as long as they’re not fire bombing anti-union newspaper headquarters, it’s all good.
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When I say work stoppage, I mean either side … strike or lockout. After baseball cancelled the World Series in 1994, I never really went back. It would be the same in college sports. I’ll find other things to do with my fall Saturdays. Maybe I’ll go be an FCS fan if that day ever comes.
There isn’t a professional sport in the US that doesn’t have a player draft as part of its CBA. As college sports continue to move to a professional model, there will be the desire to spread the talent more equitably. That’s why a salary cap and/or a draft is inevitable to me.
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Private entity- check. One jurisdiction and one CBA for the SEC athletes -check. Logical, legal, and fairly efficient. Is there a rule that says it makes too much sense to actually happen?
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That will not do away with NIL and players making money on the side. So why go to the trouble?
If Stet is really making $700,000.00 per year, I don’t see him wanting to be an employee that could be fired.
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That last part is key. Which is why I’m not sold that the players would allow this to happen in a so called “right to work” (“right to fire you for any or no reason, union be damned”) state.
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Right to work only means you aren’t required to join the union at your place of employment and aren’t required to pay dues. It has nothing to do with the ability to be fired. If you are in a right to work state and are covered by a CBA, the employer still has to follow the agreement to fire you. If you aren’t, you are an employee at will.
Right to work only deals with union membership. You can’t have a union shop in a right-to-work state.
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Learn something new every day…
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You are right with the distinction between employment at will and right to work. However, even right to work states can have unions. They just tend not to gain traction because they can’t compel membership.
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Exactly – well said.
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A union shop meaning you must join the union and pay dues to work.
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Like players can’t be cut, benched, “fired” etc. already? Allowing players to collectively bargain goes way beyond NIL. If something like this can be pulled off, the players negotiate a collective bargaining agreement, giving them tons more rights and a say in things than they have now. NIL would likely remain a separate deal. And as an added bonus, this could spell the beginning of the end of the NCAA . Once the players collectively bargain with their “employer” then what say does the NCAA have in the matter?
Sounds great, but I’m not holding my breath waiting for it to happen.
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Being cut is one thing. Being subject to getting fired for running afoul of the moral whims of the SEC commissioner is another.
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If the players are signing onto a contract / collective bargaining agreement, they’re not signing one allowing their firing for “moral whims” or the like, IMO.
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I’m no union lawyer but my gut says you may have to move that league office if they want that in the SEC. As in, to a more union friendly state. Gotta think the players’ reps would have some demands before that plan went through. Jurisdiction matters for unions.
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Not sure I get it, but maybe it goes like this:
I’m an entertainment corp. I hire entertainers and pay them market wages plus own their NIL rights under the contract. I collect all broadcast rights and advertising/ merchandising revenue to pay the wages. The entertainers will need legal representation and negotiations fall within a master collective bargaining agreement. I then pay/permit each entertainer to go to the school of their choice within a select list and contingent on an offer and acceptance by each school.
So many questions. Can I walk-on, keep my NIL and maybe have a better deal than be subject to the CBA? If I transfer/quit, do I immediately get my NIL rights back? If I’m an entertainer, do I have to attend school? Unionizing the players is to what benefit of the kids?
Making these kids employees solves what problem again? Are we trying to fix NIL or just seize control of the money back for the ADs?
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Like you I have many questions. I can see why the SEC might want it. I question how they can do it under the laws of one state. Not all states have the same laws and how would that be resolved? As a CPA I need details and have found that simple solutions frequently have unintended consequences. Have unions been part of the discussions? The Southeast is not their stronghold so they will probably slip the camel’s nose under the tent in another part of the country . Not to mix too many metaphors but it is a good bet unions are licking their chops. They will explain to the athletes why it is in their best interest.
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Josh Pate has been saying this is coming for months now on Late Lick.
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Kick
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I think you got it right the first time….
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Anyone else old enough to remember this song?
“I knew an old lady who swallowed a fly”
I always thought it was just a fun song.
Turns out it has a hell of a meaning.
The more we try to fix little things with bigger things, the bigger the problem gets.
“I knew an old lady who swallowed a horse”
“She’s dead, of course.”
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I’ll go out on a limb and bet this wasn’t one of Greg Mediocrity’s ideas.
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With the CBS/SEC partnership going away we are now exclusively partnered with Disney. I’ve been saying for a while now that the players should be employees of ESPN. That’s where all the money comes from.
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JUST WIN ONE MORE THIS YEAR, DAWGS! The structure may totally collapse in a few years, and ‘The South’ may lose, being so anti-union that it defies belief.
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I still have never heard an answer. If a current/future college player becomes an employee, what is the legal authority to require them to be aligned to a school — much less attend the school. How to you only limit an employee to 4 years of work. If the athletic conferences become the employers, then there is no reason to have an academic mission as part of the conference. Without that, the UGA Bulldogs are just the SEC Bulldogs sponsored by the University of Georgia.
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