NLRB memo: College football players are employees

College football players and many other athletes are employees of their schools, the National Labor Relations Board's top lawyer said in a memo Wednesday that would allow players at private universities to unionize and otherwise negotiate over their working conditions.

NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo also threatened action against schools, conferences and the NCAA if they continue to use the term “student-athlete,” saying that it was created to disguise the employment relationship with college athletes and discourage them from pursuing their rights.

“The freedom to engage in far-reaching and lucrative business enterprises makes players at academic institutions much more similar to professional athletes who are employed by a team to play a sport,” the memo said.

Abruzzo's memo does not immediately alter the existing dynamic between the schools and their athletes, who can receive scholarships and limited cost of attendance funding in exchange for playing sports. Instead, it is legal advice for the NLRB should a case come to it for a decision.

The NLRB has authority only over private businesses, leaving the majority of major athletic programs outside its purview.

Gabe Feldman, the director of the Tulane Sports Law Program, said that while the memo has no immediate effect it is “yet another threat” to the business model of the NCAA, its conferences and its schools, which rely on unpaid athletes to reap billions in revenues, primarily from football and basketball.

“It’s particularly meaningful given the rest of the landscape in college athletics,” he said. “All signs point to an increasingly at-risk and fragile system of college athletics.”

Neither the NCAA nor representatives for the five largest athletic conferences responded to a request for comment from The...