White House to hold roundtable focused on college football players' rights

As the courts and other entities stand poised to dramatically reshape the college sports model, the White House will convene a roundtable discussion Wednesday on a variety of issues related to the rights of college athletes, including how college football players can formally organize, a source with knowledge of the meeting told On3.

The roundtable is a notable development, if only symbolically, as the industry incrementally moves toward potentially seismic changes that may usher in an era of collective bargaining in the coming years.

Among the invitees to meet with White House officials: former Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck; ESPN college football analyst Rod Gilmore; ESPN anchor Kevin Negandhi; ESPN’s Desmond Howard; College Football Playoff Association leadership committee member Jordan Meachum; and Keith Marshall, co-founder of the Players’ Lounge and a former Georgia star running back.

Topics are expected to include, among other issues, safety standards as well as how college football players can formally organize – an increasingly relevant issue generating discussion among college leaders nationwide.

In various corners of the country, court proceedings are ongoing that could create a new, dramatically evolved college athletics model – one that would likely grant athletes more rights, protections and perhaps a slice of the broadcast revenue pie.

As public sentiment continues to change the legal proceedings continue to churn, prominent industry leaders are also gradually moving on key issues. 

Notre Dame Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick, for instance, advocated to Yahoo! Sports a concept that would prevent athletes from being deemed employees but would enable them to unionize and collectively bargain with the NCAA.

A growing number of legal experts believe that radical change is coming – it’s just a matter of when.

Courts could usher in collective bargaining

In the courts, U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken on Friday granted class-action status for the three remaining damages classes in the landmark House v. NCAA antitrust lawsuit. The NCAA and power conferences could be ordered to pay some $4.2 million in damages to thousands of former and current athletes. Plus, NIL rule changes could take hold to allow schools and conferences to pay NIL dollars to athletes for any reason.

Meantime, the plaintiffs in Johnson v. NCAA, former Villanova football player Trey Johnson and other Division I athletes, are asking that athletes be deemed employees subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act. That requires covered employees to be paid minimum wage and overtime pay, much like non-athletes at colleges who participate in work-study programs. 

On the National Labor Relations Board front, a virtual hearing started Tuesday that will weigh unfair labor practice charges against USC, the Pac-12 and NCAA. The case will address charges that the USC football and men’s and women’s basketball players are employees under the National Labor Relations Act.

And a Boston-based NLRB regional director will soon rule whether 15 Dartmouth men’s basketball players can conduct a union election. On Sept. 13, a petition filed with the NLRB by the Service Employees International Union identified 15 players from Dartmouth as seeking representation.

Rather than starting to craft a new model for college sports, the NCAA continues to aggressively lobby Congress for a federal reform bill. The association’s wish list includes a uniform national NIL standard, at least limited antitrust protection and a formal designation that athletes are not university employees.

Congress last month held its 10th – and perhaps most fascinating – hearing related to NIL. Among the witnesses: NCAA President Charlie Baker, Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti and Swarbrick.