life as we know it

Ok, after some original panic, it seems this is not as big of a deal as it sounds.

CHICAGO (AP) -- In a stunning ruling that could revolutionize a college sports industry worth billions of dollars and have dramatic repercussion at schools coast to coast, a federal agency said Wednesday that football players at Northwestern University can create the nation's first union of college athletes. The decision by a regional director of the National Labor Relations Board answered the question at the heart of the debate over the unionization bid: Do football players who receive full scholarships to the Big Ten school qualify as employees under federal law and therefore can legally unionize?
 Peter Sung Ohr, the NLRB regional director, said in a 24-page decision that the players "fall squarely" within the broad definition of employee. Pro-union activists cheered as they learned of the ruling. "It's like preparing so long for a big game and then when you win - it is pure joy," said former UCLA linebacker Ramogi Huma, the designated president of Northwestern's would-be football players' union. An employee is regarded by law as someone who, among other things, receives compensation for a service and is under the strict, direct control of managers.
 In the case of the Northwestern players, coaches are the managers and scholarships are a form of compensation, Ohr concluded. The Evanston, Ill., university argued that college athletes, as students, do not fit in the same category as factory workers, truck drivers and other unionized workers. 
The school announced plans to appeal to labor authorities in Washington, D.C.  ( THE REST  )

The end of college football as we know it, right ? Not so fast - even if, and that is a BIG if , this ruling holds up on appeal, it would be a very narrow victory. Really, only Northwestern, and other private schools that wanted to try and unionize would be able too, IN non right to work states.

A MUCH bigger question is the fact that only two college sports make any money at all, football and basketball. And yes, they make A LOT of money - but they supplement every other sport, your swimming, gymnastics, soccer, everything you can think of . Also, title 9 means that you can not treat male and female college athletes any different, but the only players that will get to unionize( meaning at some point, getting paid) will be men.

PBS Newshour had a great story on the ruling tonight, I will post it here as soon as they do.