Leaders Of Effort To Unionize College Athletes Speak In NCAA's Backyard

INDIANAPOLIS -- The College Athletes Players Association – led by two former football players – wants to unionize players to ensure the NCAA protects them.  It's an effort supported by labor organizations across the country, including Indiana’s AFL-CIO.

Kain Colter, former quarterback at Northwestern University, was taking a class that talked about the history of unions and it sparked an idea to establish a football players’ union at the Big Ten school. That effort was ultimately quashed by the National Labor Relations Board…but Colter says it had a positive impact.

“The Power Five conferences have now adopted four-year scholarships.  Players are now receiving stipend checks to cover the full cost of attendance at their universities," Colter said. "Many colleges are adopting and implementing better concussion protocol.”

But Colter notes those changes aren’t universal or guaranteed.  And that’s why Ramogi Huma says unionization is necessary.  Huma is a former UCLA football player and founder of the College Athletes Players Association.  He says unionizing athletes is the best path forward because it’s what worked for professional sports.  He says the dialogue among college players hasn’t changed since he was playing in the mid-'90s.

“The players are not happy," Huma said. "The players want a voice; they want protections.  And many players are willing to take steps.”

Huma says there’s support to attempt unionization at universities across the country, but he declined to give specific examples out of the fear the colleges might try to quell those efforts.