re: Dartmouth basketball players are school employees the NLRB rules

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I love that these rulings always seem to happen at schools that can afford them the least.

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Dartmouth will be fine as will the Ivies and the other schools like them. I think we can see a Division for schools like them based on a club model. Universities have club sports and you can have a high-level of club sports in the Ivies and so on. It becomes a student organization or club fully funded via fund-raising, gifts, and internal grants like how the Chess Club can get a few thousand dollars a year.

LSU can still play TAMU in front of 90,000 people can so can Michigan and Ohio State in front of 111, 000. You just won't be seeing the best athletes, but you can still see a competitive game and have school spirt and so on with bands and cheerleaders and tailgate. You just won't be seeing the same caliber of athletes. Hell, you can make a slow pitch softball game a matter of life and death if you want.

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It's not close to the right call and the results that we see now speak to that. If a judge saw that some yahoo was suing the NCAA over money he should've said "gtfo, it's college sports are you serious?" Now because of waht's happened we dont' even have college athletics. We have paid professionals pretending to be college students that are traveling mercenaries donning the uniform of whoever is the highest bidder for that specific 12 month period. That isn't college sports.

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A very politically and ideologically divided USSC ruled 9-0 on the issue that schools cannot prohibit a player from earning revenue for the use of his/her NIL. You can not like it. But it was absolutely the correct legal decision. It was ridiculous that EA sports could produce a basketball video game, pay a school like UCLA for the use of its trademarks/intellectual property, incorporate on the game a "player" who was 6'8, bald, black, and wore No. 31, make millions in revenue, and not pay the player a dime. UCLA was making money by selling its NIL. But the player couldn't earn revenue for the blatant use of his?

We can live in this antiquated world where we can pretend major conference college football and basketball are still scholastic extra-curricular activities. Or we can recognize what they are...multi-billion dollar ENTERTAINMENT BUSINESSES which are intertwined with universities. The SEC is about to begin a $3 BILLION dollar contract for the sale of its media rights. The Big 10 is about to begin an $8 BILLION dollar contract. That's not "amateur sports". That's a lucrative business. One where a key contributor to the business, the players, are not entitled to a share of the revenue.

When broken down to its base level how is that any different than what the NFL does? Each individual franchise sells tickets for the right to attend its games (Just like colleges). They license their trademarks for use in the sale merchandise, advertising, etc (Just like colleges - you probably have quite a few Georgia hats, shirts, etc.). Most importantly, the NFL receives billions in revenue for the use its media rights (again, just like college, but on a lesser scale). The only difference is the players, through a CBA, get 47% or so of the revenue the business generates. In college the players certainly get some benefit. But they aren't getting a split of the huge revenue that continues to grow.

Of course, the downside is only the top of the DI programs (Big 10, SEC, and to a lesser extent, Big 12 and ACC) generate that kind of revenue. Valdosta St. or the Big South conference doesn't. So it is difficult, if not impossible, to take a one-size-fits-all approach. But to say that the prior system was equitable in the face of ever growing revenue is just wrong. As the conferences/schools became more valuable in the entertainment marketplace the sports became less and less amateur in nature.

And for those constantly screaming that NIL, transferring, etc needs to be "regulated", the best way to achieve that goal is through collective bargaining. Otherwise, any unilateral action by the NCAA/conferences that is deemed anti-competitive will almost assuredly be struck down by the courts...any courts.

Wait till players get 1099s for ankle taping and things like that. They may end up owing huge money in taxes. No one seems to be accounting for how much money is spent on each athlete, as well as how many programs don't turn a profit.