Athletes soon to be employees?

[Lobot]

This is the opposite of what everyone expected the NCAA to do here. It creates a serious problem for foreign athletes in all sports that are here on F-1 student visas. You can only work 20 hours a week while on one. Based on what I'm reading, If athletes are deemed employees of a university, foreign athletes would basically have to drop sports in order to stay on a student visa and remain in school. In doing so they'd have to give up their athletic scholarship which is how most of them got into the US college system in the first place.

It would be a complete mess. This is all being driven by a unionization attempt and court case from the MBB team at Dartmouth (which has 4 foreign players on it that would all be affected).

Closer to UC, it could cause a huge problem for a couple of our players and Viktor Lakhin in particular. If Vik loses his visa, he could conceivably end up back in Russia where he'd be conscripted into the Russian military and head to war. I have no idea if he's eligible to go elsewhere on a Russian passport or whether his family is still in Russia at this point.


https://www.espn.com/college-sports/...senate-hearing

[longtimefan]

At some point, an athlete making 7 figures will be ruled academically ineligible, and will go to court claiming that academic requirements should not limit his ability to earn the money in his contract. An eventual ruling could get rid of the requirement that the player has to be a student. Schools will license their names to professional leagues. Impossible? No, not anymore.

[bearcatbret]

This is all going in a bad direction. This was something that I thought could only happen in California. So, they become employees, then they will become part of the union, then they will strike. Once they strike, they will lose the fanbase forever. When it turns into the 32 biggest brand names in college football, half of the country will turn them off. When the fans turn them off, the TV deals fall apart. See ABC, Disney, ESPN.

[red_n_black_attack]

One possible solution is to apply for a work Visa with the school as the player's sponsor.

As to the potential to rule a player ineligible due to academics, every employee has certain performance criteria to meet to keep his/her job. I don't see a court deeming that a school employee playing sports to represent the student body would be exempt from academic criteria as agreed upon when the player enters the work contract. Although, I have to admit I hate the idea of players being school employees, one benefit is school employees usually get free tuition for themselves, their spouses, and their dependents; however, the free tuition has to be repaid if the player gets below a C in any class.

[longtimefan]

One possible solution is to apply for a work Visa with the school as the player's sponsor.

As to the potential to rule a player ineligible due to academics, every employee has certain performance criteria to meet to keep his/her job. I don't see a court deeming that a school employee playing sports to represent the student body would be exempt from academic criteria as agreed upon when the player enters the work contract. Although, I have to admit I hate the idea of players being school employees, one benefit is school employees usually get free tuition for themselves, their spouses, and their dependents; however, the free tuition has to be repaid if the player gets below a C in any class.

I agree, but crazy happens more now than ever. What’s to stop a school like Kentucky dropping all academic requirements, and then sue the NCAA if there’s any penalty? How the courts rule these days is anybody’s guess.

[red_n_black_attack]

I agree, but crazy happens more now than ever. What’s to stop a school like Kentucky dropping all academic requirements, and then sue the NCAA if there’s any penalty? How the courts rule these days is anybody’s guess.

I believe enough alumni will not give or support a "pro team" playing for the school. As it is, many alums are choosing not to give to Cincy Reigns because it isn't tax deductible and there will be a huge upset group if they continue to the ill-advised plan to use Cincy Reigns giving to allocate seating preferences instead of UCATS points. Should universities sue and win, I predict they will have trouble paying the player salaries out of the athletic operating budget as alumni giving will take some sort of hit.