They pounded another nail into the coffin that is traditional amateur athletics on Monday. “They” is an amorphous actor‚ to be sure‚ comprising athletes‚ power brokers‚ agents‚ the courts‚ the government‚ and general mucky-mucks dissatisfied with a model of amateur sports that has for a century provided athletes as well as a sports-crazed public the joy of competition on a stage “purer” than that of professionalism. READ MORE from Tom Raabe: Nick Saban Hangs Up His Straw Hat But the “they” in this case is a regional official from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) who ruled that the Dartmouth College men’s basketball team was composed not of student-athletes but of student-employees‚ and‚ as employees of Dartmouth‚ they could unionize. It is possible they will do so within the next week or two‚ and if they vote affirmatively‚ they will join other Dartmouth employees at Local 560 of the Service Employees International Union.  The official‚ NLRB regional director Laura Sacks‚ wrote in a 26-page ruling: Because Dartmouth has the right to control the work performed by the Dartmouth men’s varsity basketball team‚ and the players perform that work in exchange for compensation‚ the petitioned-for basketball players are employees within the meaning of the [National Labor Relations] Act. It didn’t matter to Sacks that Dartmouth doesn’t give athletic scholarships or that‚ unlike big-time athletic departments‚ the school’s sports teams don’t make money. Nor even that the “compensation” the Dartmouth jocks receive comprises not money but equipment‚ apparel‚ free tickets to home games‚ and shoes. To her‚ they are employees of the school and‚ as such‚ can unionize. What this means is that players will be able to negotiate over salaries‚ working hours‚ working conditions‚ and travel arrangements‚ among other matters. Players’ testimony during a hearing that‚ while NCAA rules limit athletes to 20 hours spent on their sport per week‚ they actually spend more than 40 hours per week may have influenced the director. Michael Hsu‚ a supporter of the Dartmouth suit‚ told Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports: The schools will have to pay the players. Minimum wage is what it is‚ minimum wage. Some players may make only minimum wage. Other ones‚ there will be a lot of competition over. This gives them a chance to use the athletic director’s budget to pay players. Dartmouth College promises to appeal the NLRB ruling. On the other side‚ an Ivy League Players Association for hoopsters is already being talked about. This is not the first unionization effort in college sports. In 2014‚ the Northwestern football team attempted to unionize‚ arguing that because they were given scholarships‚ they had the right to bargain collectively. Like the Dartmouth case‚ a regional director of the NLRB gave the players the go-ahead – ruling that the players were university employees – but after an election was held by the team‚ the full NLRB sided in 2015 with the university‚ and the ballots were destroyed. Chaos in College Sports The Northwestern decision went against unionization‚ but that was nine years ago‚ when sanity was in greater abundance in the college athletic world and the concept of the student-athlete was still a tenable idea‚ albeit marginally so. Now‚ in 2024‚ the landscape has changed. The college sports world has been turned upside down. Utter chaos has been the standard for the past three or so years on the big-college athletic scene. The NCAA’s effort to allow college athletes to reap monetary rewards for their name‚ image‚ and likeness (NIL) has turned into an all-out bidding war for top-notch talent. The big powers with wealthy boosters commandeer collectives — groups of donors independent of the universities that set up NIL deals for athletes — that end up offering athletes lucrative NIL deals (some in the millions of dollars). (RELATED from Tom Raabe: Congress Jumps Into the NIL Debate) While this gives a leg up to the well-bankrolled schools — the Texases‚ Alabamas‚ and Ohio States — it hurts the less wealthy schools in recruitment and threatens to demote them to ersatz mid-major status. Whereas once the football program at an Iowa State or Cal or Georgia Tech‚ to pick three‚ could compete in their conferences and sneak away with a championship on occasion‚ their lack of sports-generated finances may now relegate them to perpetual also-rans. Couple that with the relaxed transfer rules that allow athletes in the major sports to switch schools without penalty‚ and bidding wars for stud football and basketball players — and wholesale movement of players from team to team — have become an annual off-season ritual. Adding to the upheaval is a letter sent by the new NCAA president in December proposing the establishment of a new tier of schools that would be permitted to make their own rules‚ up to a point‚ apart from the rank-and-file Division I programs and to invest in their athletes directly. Charlie Baker‚ on the job only since last March‚ says schools in this new group would have to “invest at least $30‚000 per year into an enhanced educational trust fund for at least half of the school’s eligible student-athletes.” This is clearly directed toward football‚ college sports’ cash cow and financier of minor sports at all big colleges around the country. The idea is that the elite football powers — the upper ranks of the Football Bowl Subdivision — would be allowed to make their own rules about roster size‚ transfers‚ and NIL‚ among other issues. Add to that the numerous other actions‚ including lawsuits‚ presently afoot in the collegiate sporting world. The attorneys general of Tennessee and Virginia are in legal battle with the NCAA over the latter’s NIL rules‚ and the NLRB is pushing USC to reclassify its athletes as employees.  It is little wonder that the two mega-conferences — the Southeastern Conference and the Big Ten‚ now comprising 16 and 18 schools‚ respectively — recently formed an advisory group to chart their way through a future that features not only an expanding NIL universe but also a seemingly unlimited and unregulated transfer portal — and now‚ to cap the craziness‚ the specter of college athletes forming unions and bargaining with their schools. Whatever emerges from all this will not be your daddy’s college sports. There are a lot of daddies unhappy about that.  The post College Jocks Given Green Light to Unionize appeared first on The American Spectator | USA News and Politics.