With the NCAA making a profit of more than one billion dollars a year, I’ve got nothing against the unionization of student-athletes.
Basic equity just makes sense. And the way things are run today, we have an undeniable equity problem when it comes to student athletics.
When you consider what a star athlete does for a school, just one big time football star like a Johnny Manziel could subsidize an entire athletic program, maybe even a school — for years.
The New York Times estimated that Manziel probably cost Texas A&M $120,000 in scholarship money for his three years there.
Meanwhile, the amount of donations to the school because of Manziel’s winning ways brought in a reported $300 million in additional donations to A&M.
The school’s own estimate of the exposure Manziel brought to the school was put at $37 million during his Heisman winning year alone.
Now with the NLRB clearing the way for unionization, we could finally see some fairness come into the sporting equation ― at some point. It might take a few trial runs and court fights, beginning with Northwestern.
