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Back to To the Point

To the Point

The First Step Toward Unionizing College Athletes

College football is big business, and there's long been dispute about the status of so-called "student athletes." Peter Ohr, regional director of the National Labor Relations Board in Chicago, ruled yesterday that football players at Northwestern University are employees with the right to form a union and bargain collectively.

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By Warren Olney • May 12, 2014 • 1 min read

College football is big business, and there's long been dispute about the status of so-called "student athletes." Peter Ohr, regional director of the National Labor Relations Board in Chicago, ruled yesterday that football players at Northwestern University are employees with the right to form a union and bargain collectively. What does that mean for the "student athlete" and the NCAA? Andrew Zimbalist is Professor of Economics at Smith College and author of the new book, The Sabermetric Revolution: Assessing the Growth of Analytics in Baseball.

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    Warren Olney

    former KCRW broadcaster

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    Katie Cooper

    Producer, 'One year Later'

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    Benjamin Gottlieb

    Reporter, Fill-in Host

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    Kareem Maddox

    Three-on-three basketball player in the final stages of qualifying for Olympics; former KCRW intern

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    Andrew Zimbalist

    Smith College

    NewsNationalPolitics
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