In a massive step for college athlete rights, the Dartmouth men’s basketball team on Tuesday voted 13-2 in favor of forming a union.
The historic election was the latest event to challenge the bedrock principles of the NCAA, which has long prided itself on protecting the concept of amateurism in collegiate sports. Now, it appears the landscape is poised for a shakeup, with the NCAA engaged in several concurrent legal battles regarding its relationship with its athletes.
While the unionization process is far from complete, Tuesday’s vote could signal a tipping point as the decision reverberates throughout the college sports landscape.
So, how did we get here, where do things stand and what’s next? Here’s what to know.
How we got to Tuesday’s vote
The broader push for college athletes to be treated as employees has been percolating for years, but this specific effort got off the ground last September, when 15 Dartmouth men’s basketball players filed a petition to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to unionize through a New England-based chapter of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), a labor union representing roughly 2 million workers across the U.S. and Canada.
The school opposed the move, but in February, NLRB regional director Laura Sacks ruled…
