Over the better part of the last few years, the landscape of collegiate athletics has changed in ways that were viewed as inconceivable 20 years ago. From programs changing their conferences to rule changes to protect players, the NCAA has gone through immense change. However there remains one change that has become the sole conflict within college sports.
In July of 2021, the NCAA granted their athletes to pursue sponsorships and agreements for money in a concept known as NIL or Name Image and Likeness agreements. Since NIL has been implemented, more and more athletes are getting NIL deals with upwards of $6 million. A prime example is EA Sports offering active football players to have their name, image, and likeness to be put into the upcoming NCAA Football video game EA is producing in exchange for a lump of cash.
Colleges have also been struggling to maintain their athletes as many of which have been entering the transfer portal to go to schools where some athletes are being paid to attend. This conflict has stirred tension throughout college sports.
Legendary College Football coach Nick Saban, who recently announced his retirement, believes that NIL has ruined college athletics. Saban, in a roundtable discussion on Capitol Hill, expressed this disdain. “All the things that I believed in, for all these years, 50 years of coaching, no longer exist in college athletics” Saban said. He continued to express that players today care more about the money and whichever school and sponsors will give them the most money.
While the NIL debate rages, another fight looms in the distance. On 6 March, a historic motion was made. Dartmouth College’s men’s basketball team, in a 13-2 vote, established a first of its kind players union. This newly formed union is yet another challenge to the NCAA along with NIL.
Throughout its history, the NCAA has done everything to preserve the integrity of amateur sports. However, NIL and now a union that can only be assumed to expand in the future, has come along and put this integrity in greater jeopardy.
The mission and goal of this new union at Dartmouth is to negotiate with the college about pay and policies relating to their play on the court. Dartmouth basketball’s players union believe they are employees of the college and deserve to be paid as such. This is a sentiment that has been a central argument for college athletes and why they deserved to be paid.
The union has stirred up conflict within the institution over whether or not it should be recognized. In a statement made by Dartmouth College, it was made clear where the administration stood on the matter. The College acknowledged its rich history of working with thousands of union workers, but did not acknowledge the newly formed union.
“In this isolated circumstance, however, the students on the men’s basketball team are not in any way employed by Dartmouth,” the statement said. “Ivy League students who are varsity athletes, academics are of primary importance, and athletic pursuit is part of the educational experience.”
The College continued its fiery rebuttal by explaining that just because the students play basketball for the school doesn’t mean they are employees by any stretch of the imagination. “Classifying these students as employees simply because they play basketball is as unprecedented as it is inaccurate” the statement continued, “We, therefore, do not believe unionization is appropriate.”
Meanwhile on the Hilltop, many Anselmians have voiced their thoughts on this controversial matter. Junior Massimo DiMatteo believes that the union is a terrible idea and makes virtually no sense. “It’s not right,” he said, “the student is getting a scholarship to get a high quality education, that should be more than enough.”
Freshman Ben Harrington shared similar ideas as DiMatteo. “They are athletes and they are students at the same time,” he said. “If you get a scholarship to go to a school to play a sport, you have no reason to ask for more,” he continued.
Several Anselmians, including athletes, see there to be no reason for collegiate athletes to be treated like employees let alone unionize. Saint Anselm is primarily a division II level school. While Dartmouth is a division I school, there has been outcry over there recent unionization on campuses across the country.
NIL has changed the entire landscape of college sports. It is harming smaller programs and helping the juggernauts get even stronger and bigger. But if more programs follow suit with Dartmouth in unionizing, it will jeopardize the integrity of not just the NCAA but sports as a whole.
