BOSTON (AP) 鈥� The Dartmouth men鈥檚 basketball team on Tuesday dropped its attempt to unionize, abruptly ending a push to become the first college athletes to bargain for a contract in order to avoid a potentially damaging precedent from a National Labor Relations Board that soon will be controlled by Republicans.
Service Employees International Union Local 560 filed a request to withdraw the NLRB petition rather than take its chances with an likely to take over in the new presidential administration. The board's regional director approved the request later Tuesday.
鈥淲hile our strategy is shifting, we will continue to advocate for just compensation, adequate health coverage, and safe working conditions for varsity athletes at Dartmouth," local president Chris Peck said in a statement that called collective bargaining 鈥渢he only viable pathway to address issues鈥� facing college athletics today.
Although the NCAA considers players 鈥渟tudent-athletes,鈥� the Dartmouth players petitioned the labor board in 2023 for the right to unionize, saying the New Hampshire school exercised so much control over their schedules and working conditions that they met the legal definition of employees. A regional official agreed, and the , which already represents some Dartmouth workers.
The school said it would , a strategy designed to force the case into federal court. Before sitting down at the bargaining table, the players would need favorable decisions from an NLRB that currently has two openings that will be filled by President-elect Donald Trump after his Jan. 20 inauguration.
In a statement, the school maintained that the decision to classify the players as employees was 鈥渋ncorrect and not supported by legal precedent.鈥�
鈥淒artmouth has built productive relationships with the unions that are part of our campus community and have deep respect for our 1,500 union colleagues. In this isolated instance, however, we did not believe unionization was appropriate,鈥� the school said. 鈥淲e will continue to support our men鈥檚 basketball team and all our students in their athletic endeavors which complement and enhance their academic experience at Dartmouth.鈥�
Cade Haskins and Romeo Myrthil, the two Dartmouth players who , did not immediately respond to text messages from The Associated Press seeking comment. But the union praised them for their efforts.
鈥淏y filing a request to withdraw our petition today, we seek to preserve the precedent set by this exceptional group of young people on the men鈥檚 varsity basketball team," Peck said. 鈥淭hey have pushed the conversation on employment and collective bargaining in college sports forward and made history by being classified as employees, winning their union election 13-2, and becoming the first certified bargaining unit of college athletes in the country.鈥�
The Dartmouth case threatened to upend the NCAA's amateur model, in which players remain unpaid even as college sports have grown into a that richly rewards coaches and schools.
Recent court decisions have chipped away at that framework, with players now allowed to profit off their name, image and likeness and earn a still-limited stipend for living expenses beyond the cost of attendance. The NCAA has been lobbying , an approach that becomes more likely with Republican control.
Both sides agree that the current paradigm is in jeopardy.
A college athletes union would be unprecedented in American sports. A previous because opponents in the Big Ten Conference include public schools that aren鈥檛 under the jurisdiction of the NLRB. A separate NLRB complaint is asking that football and basketball be deemed employees of their school, the Pac-12 conference and the NCAA.
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Jimmy Golen covers sports and the law for The Associated Press.
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Jimmy Golen, The Associated Press
