The Independent Voice of Southern Methodist University Since 1915

The Daily Campus

The Daily Campus

The Independent Voice of Southern Methodist University Since 1915

The Daily Campus

The Independent Voice of Southern Methodist University Since 1915

The Daily Campus

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The Player Union Cloud keeps College Athletics’ Future in the Dark

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photo credit: smumustangs.com

In his office at the north end of Gerald J. Ford Stadium, SMU Athletic Director Rick Hart shifted in his seat as he tried to find the words to describe the imminent changes to the basic structure of college athletics.

“This is the latest development in our industry that will hopefully lead to change,” Hart said. “It’s one of the growing number of signals reinforcing factors that say we needed to look at the collegiate model and do something differently.”

Hart is talking about what has been going on at Northwestern University, and the potential of player unions coming to college football in the near future.

A political theory class and a visit to a steel mill prompted former Northwestern University quarterback Kain Colter to embark on a mission, not for himself, but for every college football player across the country.

The plight of the steel worker is similar to that of the Division 1 college athlete, Colter believes. Athletes work long hours year-round and make millions of dollars for the people above them, without seeing some of those benefits trickle down to them.

In a Chicago courtroom this past March, Region 13 of the National Labor Relations Board issued a ruling that granted the football players from Northwestern University the right to unionize. While the effects of this ruling will not be felt throughout the NCAA for some time, this ruling is set to become the first building block in something that could change the landscape of collegiate athletics forever.

The NLRB only operates in the private sector, so this Northwestern legal battle could also potentially include SMU and the other 15 FBS private schools. Public schools, such as the University of Texas, are all state governed, and will have to go through a different process.

“Unionization would affect everybody, but chronologically, we would have to consider things first,” Hart said. “If the Northwestern vote gets passed, that just gives the program the option as to whether or not they want to pursue unionization.”

The football players at Northwestern took part in a private team vote on April 25 that would decide whether or not the players would approve the union. However, the votes could remain sealed for months due to legal appeals. It won’t be clear if unions will be a viable option for players until the legal process has run its course.

Even without unionization approval, that has not stopped the speculation of what a college player union could mean. Will student-athletes become employees of the university? What extra benefits will they receive? Could they be paid? How much would it cost the university? Questions without answers have been the theme of college player unions to this point, and it has SMU players on both sides of the fence.

Former SMU linebacker, and NFL Draft hopeful Randall Joyner is all for unionization.

I feel that giving the player a voice is very important and I think a union does provide that. The NCAA makes billions of dollars off of our back and we don’t see any of that,” he said, “We put in over 40 hours of work for football and we also have to be a full-time student which leaves no time for and extra job for money.”

Joyner also understands that unions will not provide every solution, and may even create a few new problems.

“Now we will be seen as employees. They can cut players at any time and could increase our workload. There are positives and negatives to it, but I strongly believe that student-athletes should have a voice,” he said.

Collegiate athletes often get scholarships and they receive top-of-the-line educations without unions. Chris Parks, another former SMU player and NFL hopeful, is not as excited about the idea.

“Great things are already happening for college athletics without (unions), so why do it?” he said, “I don’t believe it would benefit or hurt college athletics, but I feel like we are fine without it.”

The potential for unions is not only casting a shadow over what the future holds for college athletes, but for college athletic programs themselves. SMU Director of Football Operations Randy Ross is already looking at the big picture.

“I don’t think we are going to stop it, it’s going so far that if it doesn’t happen now, it’s going to happen eventually,” Ross said. “The big five conferences could afford to do that, but the average school can’t afford to do what everyone thinks athletics departments should be able to.”

There is merit behind Ross’s words. He was a coach at Alabama for 17 years. In his time there he never heard the word “budget”. When he came to SMU seven years ago, he was introduced to those budgets, and the blinders came off as he finally saw how many athletic departments across the country are forced to operate.

“The perception is all schools have millions of dollars, and that’s just not the case. I can’t see all these schools being able to afford unions, and it may force some to close their doors,” said Ross, “That may not be what they’re trying to do, but it may be what ends up happening.”

An official athletic department statement provided by Brad Sutton, SMU’s Senior Associate A.D. for Public Relations and Marketing, stated that “we don’t believe that unionization represents the most effective conduit to achieving our shared goal of refining existing practices to more appropriately align with and reflect an evolving collegiate model.”

If unions ever become reality, and players begin to receive some kind of payment, the NCAA may be evolving past the days of calling their student-athletes “amateurs”.

However, Hart gave his most definitive answer defending the term.

“You’re either going to have amateur college athletes, or you’re not. We can’t have an athlete at SMU who’s not a student, they’re an amateur. There is already the next level. It’s called professional sports,” said Hart.

Joey Hayden is a senior Sport Management major and Journalism minor. Follow him on Twitter @jhayden24seven.

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