During a National Labor Relations Board hearing in Chicago, lawyers for the proposed union and the university agreed that if college football players qualify as employees, they can legally form the first-of-its-kind union and if not, they can’t.
“That is the key threshold issue,” university attorney Alex Barbour said.
If the union, called the College Athletes Players Association, or CAPA, eventually gets the green light, advocates say it will provide athletes a vehicle to lobby for financial security and improved safety on the field.
This first attempt is being closely watched, with the expectation that, if it succeeds, other college teams nationwide could quickly follow suit.
The players’ attorney, John Adam, argued his clients met the definition of employees because they put in 40-hour workweeks during the season, are managed by coaches and receive payment in the form of scholarships.
“They are entitled to be represented by a union … to bring a voice” to their grievances, he said.