Dartmouth basketball team votes to become first US college athlete union

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

The Dartmouth College men’s basketball team has voted to form a union, a first in the multibillion-dollar US college sports industry that could pave the way for student athletes to become employees of their institutions.

The move was immediately appealed against by the Ivy League university. If successful it could inspire similar actions at other US universities, where athletes are considered students first and ineligible for pay even as universities generate profits based on rights fees for television, ticket, and merchandise sales.

Members of the Dartmouth men’s varsity basketball team on Tuesday voted 13-2 in favour of joining Service Employees International Union, according to the US National Labor Relations Board. SEIU already represents some of Dartmouth’s student employees.

Players said they hoped unionising would force Dartmouth to grant them health insurance to cover the cost of treating injuries.

“Dartmouth seems to be stuck in the past. It’s time for the age of amateurism to end,” said juniors Cade Haskins and Romeo Myrthil, who led the organising drive.

A spokesperson for Dartmouth said the university has immediately filed an objection with the board, challenging whether college athletes can be designated as employees.

Dartmouth said: “For Ivy League students who are varsity athletes, academics are of primary importance, and athletic pursuit is part of the educational experience. Classifying these students as employees simply because they play basketball is as unprecedented as it is inaccurate. We, therefore, do not believe unionisation is appropriate.”

In 2021, the US Supreme Court sided with college athletes in a landmark ruling that said the National Collegiate Athletic Association, the governing body for college sport, had unfairly restricted education-related benefits.

Since then, the NCAA has permitted athletes to receive pay for the use of their name, image, and likeness. But it is still holding the line that sports stars should not be paid directly for play.

The player’s union likely faces a lengthy legal fight against the college before it can begin negotiating over their pay and working conditions. The NLRB said it will issue a decision on Dartmouth’s appeal.

SEIU president Mary Kay Henry said: “The Ivy League is where the whole scandalous model of nearly free labour in college sports was born and that is where it is going to die.”