{"id":1686,"date":"2017-02-14T23:12:42","date_gmt":"2017-02-15T04:12:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/jsel\/?p=1686"},"modified":"2023-07-25T11:56:24","modified_gmt":"2023-07-25T15:56:24","slug":"the-end-of-amateurism-in-college-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/jsel\/2017\/02\/the-end-of-amateurism-in-college-football\/","title":{"rendered":"The End of Amateurism in College Football?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"National_Labor_Relations_Board_logo_-_color\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The\u00a0General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Richard Griffin released a memo<\/a> in late January\u00a0stating that football players at private universities and colleges should qualify as employees under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). As SportsLawInsider<\/a> reports, the memo noted that these players should be afforded the Act\u2019s Section 7<\/a> protections, which would give players the right to self-organize and engage in collective bargaining over issues such as player safety and financial compensation. The NLRB had previously refused to grant private college football players the status of employees when it dismissed a unionization attempt by Northwestern University\u2019s football team, but a recent NLRB decision that held that graduate teaching assistants are employees has paved the way for this reassessment of football players\u2019 status.<\/p>\n

This is a monumental\u00a0step forward for the athletes, with Ramogi Huma, the leader of Northwestern\u2019s unionization efforts, calling the decision \u201chistoric\u201d and a clear commitment by the NLRB to \u201cprotecting college athletes\u2019 employee rights under the labor laws.\u201d While the memo is not legally binding, it invites and allows players to bring challenges of unfair labor practices by universities to the NLRB. However, this victory may be short-lived, as Griffin\u2019s term as general counsel ends in November and his successor could reverse this stance.<\/p>\n

Prudence Ng is a Sports and Entertainment Highlight Contributor for the Harvard Journal of Sports and Entertainment Law and a current first year student at Harvard Law School (Class of 2019).<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Richard Griffin released a memo in late January\u00a0stating that football players at private universities and colleges should qualify as employees under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). As SportsLawInsider reports, the memo noted that these players should be afforded the Act\u2019s Section 7 protections, which would 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