Feb. 18 (Bloomberg) — Northwestern University football players went before the National Labor Relations Board to seek recognition for the group they formed to combat what one quarterback likened to a "dictatorship" over college athletes.
Members of the Northwestern team, including senior quarterback Kain Colter, last month created the College Athletes Players Association. At issue at the NLRB hearing today in the federal courthouse in Chicago was whether the 85 scholarship players qualify as employees of the Evanston, Illinois-based school.
College athletes aren't paid despite generating more than $16 billion in television contracts, as well as creating revenue from sponsorships, ticket and merchandise sales, and payouts for championships.
"Being a football player at Northwestern is hard work, and make no mistake about it: It is work," John Adam, an attorney for the association, said in his opening statement to the NLRB officer. Failure to maintain conditioning year round puts their scholarships at risk, he said.
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