NLRB Chips Away at Athlete Amateurism
Big-time college football players at private institutions should be considered employees, the National Labor Relations Board’s general counsel says in new memo.
By
Jake New
February 2, 2017
13 Comments
Football players at private institutions in college sports’ most competitive level are employees, the National Labor Relations Board’s general counsel stated this week, and will be treated as such if they seek protection against unfair labor practices.
In a memorandum sent Tuesday to the board’s regional directors, the NLRB’s general counsel, Richard Griffin, wrote that “scholarship football players in Division I Football Bowl Subdivision private-sector colleges and universities are employees” under the National Labor Relations Act. While limited to granting protections under just one section of the act, the memo clarifies that football players at private FBS programs are entitled to campaign for their own interests as employees, including asking for pay, free of retaliation. There are 17 private colleges and universities in the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s Football Bowl Subdivision.
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/02/02/nlrb-general-counsel-says-private-college-football-players-are-employees
