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Should Alabama football players join the players' union?

I can see a great deal of universities turning playing fields into parking lots before a NCAA player's union exists.
 
Just what we need - to turn college football into the NFL with labor strife, lockouts, agents, and collective bargaining.......all for the 99% who are not going pro.

Yeah count me out.
 
College presidents will never allow college football to be a minor league to the NFL. Accepting any college scholarship -either athletic or academic- is the free will choice of the recipient. Colleges may help develop talent for the NFL but that is not their business. OF COURSE there is a significant percentage of athletes who only go to college with the dream of playing in the NFL and I am sure there are some colleges who don't even care if they go to class or not.

If 4 and 5 star recruits think they can raise the capital to build stadiums and develop enough of a following of fans to buy tickets for them to operate profitably and get paid, then God bless them and the free market. The colleges will just start recruiting 3 star to unranked athletes and the college game will continue. Pro sports and collegiate sports will NEVER, NEVER, NEVER operate with the same business model. College football is a big business and it is the cash cow that allows schools to support their entire athletic departments but it will never change the purpose of a university. Student-athletes who want to participate in possibly developing an NFL career and get the incredible benefit of a paid college education are free to take advantage of the opportunity. Their choice. They are also free to choose to build another road to success....and there are as many roads to success as there are people wiling to build them. There are no entitlements when your choices are unlimited and they are free.
 
There is pending litigation to resolve all of the issues that this "union" pretends are not being addressed currently and cannot be resolved without the help of a union. Google Beatty-Dent. This addresses most of the real concerns in a way that just about every fan would support. The "compensation" is tied to suits like the one that Ed O'Bannon is pushing. Payment for coverage of the "full cost" of a college education is being addressed by the conferences that can afford it.

This is a "union" showing up too late, when the race has already been run. They pretend to be magnanimous by not collecting dues, but they really have their eye on a share of the billions of dollars tied up in TV contracts.

This is the rich trying to get richer on the backs of players. Sad that the players are foolish enough not to see it themselves.
 
B1GTide said:
There is pending litigation to resolve all of the issues that this "union" pretends are not being addressed currently and cannot be resolved without the help of a union. Google Beatty-Dent. This addresses most of the real concerns in a way that just about every fan would support. The "compensation" is tied to suits like the one that Ed O'Bannon is pushing. Payment for coverage of the "full cost" of a college education is being addressed by the conferences that can afford it.

This is a "union" showing up too late, when the race has already been run. They pretend to be magnanimous by not collecting dues, but they really have their eye on a share of the billions of dollars tied up in TV contracts.

This is the rich trying to get richer on the backs of players. Sad that the players are foolish enough not to see it themselves.
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Excellent point. I hadn't considered that angle.
 
Bodhisattva said:
My background was never in labor law, so how does this work when the students are not employees?
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I don't know a much about labor law, either. But, wether or not players can be classified as employees depends on how the law defines employees. It probably vaires by state, I would think. Merriam-Webster defines it as "a person who works for another person or for a company for wages or a salary". Since athletes don't get wages or a salary (unless stipends count), I don't think they would be classified as employees under that definition. The Free Dictionary defines an employee as "A person who works for another in return for financial or other compensation". Under that definition, I think they would be employees.
 
I listened to the NW QB on SportsCenter this morning and a few of the things he talked about was the cost of knee replacement down the road or tuition costs of returning to school. I'm floored by this line of thinking. He's basically saying that, as a player, he has the option of bolting for the NFL after 2 years but still thinks the school should allow him to complete his degree free of charge and cover his medical costs even though he probably played football at lower levels 2-5 times longer than he played college ball.

He also said schools weren't doing enough to ensure players graduated which is ridiculous--there's plenty of FREE tutor help available. If players want future benefits then I think they should be required to graduate.....be it in 3 years or 4. But to cut and run for the money and then want to back up and still hold the school responsible for future medical/education costs is just wrong, imo.
 
AgentAntiOrange said:
I listened to the NW QB on SportsCenter this morning and a few of the things he talked about was the cost of knee replacement down the road or tuition costs of returning to school. I'm floored by this line of thinking. He's basically saying that, as a player, he has the option of bolting for the NFL after 2 years but still thinks the school should allow him to complete his degree free of charge and cover his medical costs even though he probably played football at lower levels 2-5 times longer than he played college ball.

He also said schools weren't doing enough to ensure players graduated which is ridiculous--there's plenty of FREE tutor help available. If players want future benefits then I think they should be required to graduate.....be it in 3 years or 4. But to cut and run for the money and then want to back up and still hold the school responsible for future medical/education costs is just wrong, imo.
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It's the old gimme gimme gimme mentality.
 
Alasippi said:
The LSU "Players Union" (team) voted to reinstate Jeremy Hill to the team after he nearly beat a guy to death in a bar fight. I'm going to have to say that I don't think 18-22 year old college players have the maturity level necessary to have their own union.
sip
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To be fair, a judge first let him off the hook, explicitly stating she was a fan of LSU football during her ruling. Plus you've got the police from the Notre Dame and FSU rape cases discouraging victims.
 
These are STUDENTS! Not employees. There are forces out there that want to ruin college football. Too competitive... too many injuries..... and on and on.... there is NO PLACE for students to form a union. TERRIBLE IDEA. Let's keep football, the game we love, as the game we have always loved.
 
AgentAntiOrange said:
I listened to the NW QB on SportsCenter this morning and a few of the things he talked about was the cost of knee replacement down the road or tuition costs of returning to school. I'm floored by this line of thinking. He's basically saying that, as a player, he has the option of bolting for the NFL after 2 years but still thinks the school should allow him to complete his degree free of charge and cover his medical costs even though he probably played football at lower levels 2-5 times longer than he played college ball.

He also said schools weren't doing enough to ensure players graduated which is ridiculous--there's plenty of FREE tutor help available. If players want future benefits then I think they should be required to graduate.....be it in 3 years or 4. But to cut and run for the money and then want to back up and still hold the school responsible for future medical/education costs is just wrong, imo.
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Agreed. I played D-1 baseball, and if you don't graduate with all of the additional help, prefered class scheduling, and tutors available.......then you have no one to blame but your lazy, worthless self.....
 
I could honestly see where a College FB players union might be of some benefit in the area of safety and protections for players, especially given what has recently been revealed in the area of concussions. And having a union doesn't mean they have to get paid. They could opt for payment or the usual full ride. If they get paid, they have to pay their way and at the same time, remain academically eligible in order to play. Most of us who have been following football for quite some time have seen our share of tragedies. We've seen a lot of our Saturday's heroes fall on hard times, physically and economically. The NFL players assoc. takes care of former players in a number of ways. Why couldn't a CFB players union operate in some of those areas for the benefit and protection of the players.
 
James Teasdale said:
I could honestly see where a College FB players union might be of some benefit in the area of safety and protections for players, especially given what has recently been revealed in the area of concussions. And having a union doesn't mean they have to get paid. They could opt for payment or the usual full ride. If they get paid, they have to pay their way and at the same time, remain academically eligible in order to play. Most of us who have been following football for quite some time have seen our share of tragedies. We've seen a lot of our Saturday's heroes fall on hard times, physically and economically. The NFL players assoc. takes care of former players in a number of ways. Why couldn't a CFB players union operate in some of those areas for the benefit and protection of the players.
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No.
 
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