Department of Management Assistant Professor Sam C. Ehrlich published “‘Entertaining’ a New College Athlete Unionization Structure” in the Journal of Legal Aspects of Sport.
Ehrlich and coauthors discuss tensions in college sports, where athletes remain dissatisfied despite NIL compensation, and administrators are frustrated by the lack of regulation. The paper proposed legally recognizing college athletes as employees and forming a labor union to allow collective bargaining for revenue and conditions, while enabling the NCAA to regulate NIL without antitrust issues. They suggest using a national-local structure to create a union that meets the needs of all stakeholders while improving the experience for college athletes.