Blue White Illustrated

hen I first learned Northwestern football players had filed papers with the National Labor Rela- tions Board in January to form a union, I wondered if they were crazy or full of themselves or both. Then I found out the United Steel- workers were involved and realized this was not only serious but could radically change college athletics as we know it. Unionized college athletes may seem ridiculous on the surface. Yet, as college athletics at the highest level continue to thrive as a big business on par with companies listed on the stock exchange, why shouldn't the minions producing the goods want a share of the profits? That wasn't the primary reason unions came into existence more than a century ago when the industrial barons treated their workers almost like serfs. But money, along with issues of fairness like free agency, has been at the center of professional sports unions. It's difficult for me and others who love college sports to put a football player or a volleyball player in the same classification as a major league baseball player or coal miner. This is the first time I have heard of a national union targeting amateurs in sports. On the surface, it is the College Ath- letes Players Association that wants to unionize the Northwestern players. The CAPA is an offshoot of the National College Players Association, which was founded in 2001 by Ramogi Huma, a former UCLA linebacker, as a players' advocacy organization. Huma continues as president of the group, which, ac- cording to ESPN, "has lobbied state leg- islatures, Congress and the NCAA." When Northwestern's graduating quarterback Kain Colter went to Huma late last year seeking help in forming a union, the two of them and a former UMass basketball player, Luke Bonner, created the CAPA with the idea of be- coming a full-fledged national union. Huma had previously sought advice from the USW, and the steelworkers are now handling all legal costs in the Northwestern case. The crucial element in the CAPA's ef- fort is the claim that Northwestern's players are employees in every legal sense of the word. Although they are not paid, the CAPA believes they should be. The CAPA also claims that players should be able to bargain just as other unions do for employee rights such as better health benefits and workplace conditions, as well as for the right to strike and to dispute disciplinary actions. Just thinking of what this would do to college sports is mindboggling. What if a Penn State players union had been in place during the 2011 season? As author John Bacon revealed in his book "Fourth and Long: The Fight for the Soul of Col- lege Football," there was an angry side- line incident near halftime of the Illinois game that carried over into the locker room. The defensive players were upset by the poor play of quarterback Rob Bolden in the second quarter and wanted Matt McGloin, who started the game and played the first quarter, back on the field. Defensive captain Drew Astorino grabbed the sideline headset and, using a profanity or two, screamed at quarter- backs coach Jay Paterno to take Bolden out of the game. The episode continued in the locker room, where an ugly con- frontation occurred with Paterno. "Lots of guys were looking for a fight," full- back Michael Zordich told Bacon. A fight was narrowly averted, and when the third quarter resumed with the game scoreless, McGloin was the quarterback. Jay Paterno later said that had been the game plan. With McGloin playing the rest of the game, Penn State won, 10-7, on a missed field goal on the last play, in what was Joe Paterno's final game as head coach. Now, what if Penn State had a players' union? Perhaps the shop steward would have talked to either Paterno on the sideline or at halftime and said the union wanted McGloin playing quarter- back the entire game because he gave the team its best chance of winning. If the coach had refused, saying the con- tract specifically forbid the union from determining the starters, the players may have decided to stay in the locker room and not gone back on the field un- til their demands were met. That would have made it a wildcat strike. Some readers may think this scenario is farfetched, but wildcat strikes are a standard tactic of unions. Imagine what this would have done to the relationship with the coaching staff and the morale of the team. And what would the fans have done, particularly if they were sympathetic to the union's demand? For now, the CAPA's unionization ef- fort is limited to the scholarship players of moneymaking teams in NCAA Divi- sion I football and basketball. But you can be sure if the CAPA and USW suc- ceed in organizing the Northwestern football team, it would be open season on all college athletics teams for every union. One can easily envision a future in which the Penn State field hockey team is represented by the United Autoworkers and the wrestling team by the Teamsters. There's also the impact of Title IX, the law that guarantees equality for women's varsity sports at all colleges that receive federal funds. As North- western's senior women's athletics ad- minister, Janna Blais, testified at the NLRB hearing in late February, "Title IX law mandates you equitably provide services, resources and programs to both genders. ... It says we have two genders: male and female. It's not Unions aren't the solution to problems in college athletics W

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