(Bloomberg) -- Northwestern University football players cannotform a union, the National Labor Relations Board ruled,overturning a March 2014 decision andending the players’ bid to change the college sports landscape.

In its unanimous decision, the labor board skirted the issue ofwhether the players are employees and left open the door to othercollege athletes winning the right to unionize.

The board cited the unique nature of college sports in saying itwould foster instability to permit Northwestern football players toform a union while players elsewhere in the National CollegiateAthletic Association are not.

"Our decision is primarily premised on a finding that because ofthe nature of sports leagues...it would not promote stability inlabor relations to assert jurisdiction in this case," the decisionsaid.

This was the first case before the NLRB involving collegeathletes of any kind, and it’s the first time the board has beenasked to certify a single-team unit in any sport.

Of the 125 football programs in the NCAA’s Football BowlSubdivision, the top echelon, just 17 are private schools andNorthwestern is the only one in the Big Ten Conference.

The NLRB only has jurisdiction over private schools, while statelabor boards oversee public institutions.

School reaction

Northwestern is pleased by the decision and considers itsathletes to be students first and foremost, Vice President forUniversity Relations Alan K. Cubbage said in an e-mailedstatement.

“Northwestern’s position remains that participation in athleticsis part of the overall educational experience for ourstudent-athletes, not a separate activity,” he said.

Former UCLA football player Ramogi Huma, founder of CollegeAthletes Players Association, which was trying to organize theNorthwestern players, declined to comment before reading theruling.

Read: Reggie Jackson and the cost of healthcare

The unionization effort, along with recent lawsuits seeking toincrease college players’ rights, had the potential to upend thebusiness of college sports.

Schools in college football’s top division turned a $1.4 billionprofit on $3.4 billion in revenue in the fiscal year ended June2014, according to data schools submit to the U.S. Department ofEducation.

Final decision

The NLRB’s decision leaves no recourse for Northwestern playersto appeal.

“That is it,” Doug Allen, a labor-relations professor at PennState University who was assistant executive director of theNFL Players Association from 1982-2007, said about such an outcomeprior to the NLRB review. “That’s a final and binding result.”

There were 76 scholarship players at the Evanston, Illinois,school who were eligible--though not compelled--to vote in April2014 over whether to form a union. They did vote, needing a simplemajority for approval, though those ballots now will be destroyedwithout being counted.

A month earlier, an NLRB regional director upheld the players’right to vote, though the Washington-based board granted theschool’s request to review the initial ruling and said players’ballots would be impounded until it decided.

Of the 111 student-athletes who will be on the Wildcats’ rosterthis fall, from 44 to 47 of them will have voted in the April 2014NLRB election, estimated Northwestern spokesman Paul Kennedy.

Players’ issues

The group trying to organize the players was seeking guaranteedcoverage of sports-related medical expenses for current and formerathletes, sponsorship compensation, an increase in scholarshipvalue and a trust fund to help former players finish theirdegrees.

Read: McDonald's workers getburned

Many of those issues have been addressed by the sport’soverseers over the ensuing months, and college athletics havechanged significantly.

In August 2014, a federal court ruled that student athletesshould be allowed to seek a share of $800 million in annualbroadcast revenue. The NCAA has appealed the ruling on the lawsuitfiled in 2009 by ex-college basketball player Ed O’Bannon.

That same month the NCAA altered its governance, grantingpartial autonomy to the five richest conferences.

In January, those conferences voted to give their schools theoption of offering scholarships that meet the cost of attendance,estimated to provide an additional $3,000 annually to studentathletes. With 36,000 people in that group, it would be acommitment of around $108 million.

Both the Big Ten Conference, of which Northwestern is a member,and Pac-12 Conference now guarantee four-year scholarships.Northwestern has done so since 2011.

Medical coverage

The Pac-12 also decided in October that athletes injured duringcollege competition would have medical coverage for up to fouryears after graduating.

Former Northwestern quarterback Kain Colter was the face of theunionization push, and in January 2014, Colter said on a mediaconference call that the NCAA system “resembles a dictatorship”that left players without any way to input or negotiate theirviews.

Colter wasn’t picked in the 2014 NFL draft, though he spent thefollowing season on the Minnesota Vikings practice squad. He wascut from the team in May.

Read: NFL financial advisor program helps proathletes make the most of their money

--With assistance from Susan Decker in Washington and EbenNovy- Williams in New York.

Copyright 2018 Bloomberg. All rightsreserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten,or redistributed.