SmashMouth

Calling the NCAA a dictatorship, Northwestern's quarterback and the United Steelworkers announced plans Tuesday to form the first labor union for college athletes -- the latest salvo in the bruising fight over whether amateur players should be paid.

Quarterback Kain Colter detailed the College Athletes Players Association at a news conference in Chicago, flanked by leaders of Steelworkers union that has agreed to pay legal bills for the effort. The NCAA and the Big Ten Conference both criticized the move and insisted that college athletes cannot be considered employees.

Colter said the NCAA dictates terms to its hundreds of member schools and tens of thousands of college athletes, leaving players with little or no say about financial compensation questions or how to improve their own safety. That college football generates hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue only bolstered the argument for a union, he said.

"How can they call this amateur athletics when our jerseys are sold in stores and the money we generate turns coaches and commissioners into multimillionaires?" Colter asked.

"The current model represents a dictatorship," added Colter, who just finished his senior year with the Wildcats. "We just want a seat at the table."

Colter said "nearly 100 percent" of his teammates backed the drive to unionize. But only he spoke publicly, saying the others wanted to keep a low profile.

CAPA's president, former UCLA football player Ramogi Huma, said a union would help ensure that scholarships, at minimum, cover all living expenses as well as tuition. Currently, he said, scholarship athletes come up thousands of dollars short each year. A union would also push for full medical coverage that could carry over past college.

While the effort to form a union among college athletes appears without precedent, there is a recent case that may help their cause. More than 600 graduate teaching and research assistants at New York University voted to form a union in December and to affiliate with the United Auto Workers. It was the first such union in the country to win recognition by a private university.

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Coastie10

If they wanna get paid then they should! Quit giving college athletes full ride scholarships! Last time I checked, it's pretty dang expensive to get a college education! So if they get their cut then they can use that to pay their own ride through college. Being a college athlete is tough with school and a full time job of being an athlete, however don't forget what your getting paid for. A future after football for those who never quite made it.

QBREES9

This is your pay, a full ride scholarship. Use it so when you don't make the NFL. you can get a job. Your there to learn.

SmashMouth

Does that mean that full scholarship rides become taxable if this were to go through?

Danno

I hate unions

QBREES9

Come work where i work, and you'll change that tune.

Danno

Sorry, let me re-clarify..

I hate greedy unions that acquire way too much power.

I broad brushed them all into my original statement. That was wrong. They're not ALL bad, but IMO most are.

jlouhill

They better be careful what they ask for. They may be opening a can of worms that's better left closed.

Not to mention what this will do to ticket prices for games.

lee909

The only thing I would give the players is a bursary to live on each month.Not a big amount but enough to cover food and some bills.It would stop the issues of coaches lending players money.If they want this though I would make the scholarship repayable to any player playing over x amount of years.The repaid scholarship money would cover the costs of bursary payments.

papz

I'd try to incorporate practices into some form of "work study". Minimum wage and to go along with their scholarships, it's should be more than enough.