Workers of The World Unite,

College football players recognized as employees by Chicago Office of the NLRB.

I thought Northwestern would never be a football factory.  How they ever made it into the Big Ten/Eleven/Twelve is also a mystery worth looking into.  What happened yesterday has the potential of changing college sports in a big way.

I can imagine Alabama Coach, Nick Saban having kittens negotiating with players over conditioning practices.  Wind sprints, sit ups, Gatorade... pads, no pads all these things could be on the table.  Oh my!

In return for scholarships the schools pretty much regulate the player's lives.  Why shouldn't players be concerned about scholarship guarantees, medical care and practice hours?  Individually players don't have much leverage, but as a group they have some protections and a process for grievances the NCAA leaves to its member schools.

How this ultimately shakes out is any body's guess but calling student athletes employees is huge.

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