- Joined
- May 8, 2002
- Posts
- 1,253,076
- Reaction score
- 59
You must be registered for see images attach
Lane Stadium in the quiet of a mid season renovation. | John Schneider - SB Nation
No sooner than we launched into our first detailed deep dive article on the Preserving College Sports Act (SCORE/Cruz-Cantwell) than we get a huge and predicted curveball pitched across the plate. Stanford’s athletes form a union chapter. Old dismissals and write-offs disintegrate like wet tissue paper.
The Situation Morphs and Warps, Again
Remember back in February of 2024? There was a National Labor Relations Board regulatory ruling that Dartmouth’s basketball players were “employees” and therefore allowed to form a union chapter. On March 5th of that year, the team voted to unionize.
NLRB Rules Dartmouth Athletes Are Employees, Orders Union Election
A quick check of Co-Pilot shows that currently the decision still stands. Dartmouth filed suit against the move, but nothing has been determined, to date.
The relevance to Tech fans suddenly blooms on the hear horizon because Stanford football players just voted on July 27th to form a chapter of College Football Players Association (CFBPA). The association was founded in 2021, as the NIL era began to roar, and has structural assignations to be similar to the NFL Players Association.
Stanford players make first step toward potential college football union
The CFLPA website is linked here for your information and situational awareness. CFBPA — College Football Players Association
The first reality of this is just exactly who are they talking to and which programs are they hearing interest from? There aren’t any clear answers in any searches, just links to the various articles so C0-Pilot doesn’t have enough information to generate a summary.
There are two obvious angles with the move and the Virginia Tech Hokies football program. The first is obviously that Stanford is an ACC program and no program in a conference is mute when it comes to other programs, at any level from players to coaches, and administrative staff. They all know each other and talk. The second is an interesting angle because a certain new head coach was running a program that turned down a bid to start a chapter.
Penn State refused to become a chapter, Fired Penn State football doctor helps launch player-led chapter at Stanford – pennlive.com(sorry that requires a subscription but the link is important in proof) but when the firings happened, a significant staff doctor decided to throw in with the effort to expand the association. He’s listed on the board About Dr. Scott Lynch.
Coaches have a large amount of power when it comes to players deciding to do something “organizational” that the coaches don’t assent to allowing. Though James Franklin’s stance on the initial run at Penn State’s potential chapter formation is still a bit opaque, his stance on the issue is going to put pressure on any locker room votes for the Hokies.
So, where does all of that get us in relation to the proposed legislation in the Senate? The Protect College Sports Act of 2026 neither expands nor alters the current policy of the NCAA, that players are not employees and therefore not entitled to unionization and the perceived benefits therein. Of course, as noted above the NLRB ruling that Dartmouth (and therefore other college athletes) are employees and entitled to unionize is still left hanging in the courts.
Things are Happening in the Senate
Over the course of the last few days, the bill has been tortured, amended, updated, and redrafted several times. Well, parts of it, anyway. The process has included some very frustrating “negotiations” with the conferences and really the only holdouts with major objections are the two “Ultra-Power” (SEC and B1G) conferences that dominate the current situation in college sports and college football (since it’s the king money maker).
Ross Dellinger has been doing the best job of keeping track of the current legislative track and negotiations with the principals. Even the White House has been involved as it’s getting closer to the Senate trying to get the bill on the floor before the August recess.
A bit later in the day we see the conference stumbling blocks for what they are. The SEC and B1G are bent on professionalizing college football and men’s basketball to maximize championship dominance potential.
At the word is that the ACC hasn’t voted formally but is very happy with the current status of the bill. There are no reports on the other “Power 2” league the Big12 but given their similar talent and revenue structure to the ACC it’s a safe bet that they are also in favor.
The drama might play out a bit more, but remember, the conferences are lobbyists at this point, and legislation is passed by legislators, not conferences committees.
We will see where this all goes, but right now, some folks think the bill is in jeopardy, and some people who know the machinations of the Senate and House legislative process aren’t so negative. Whether or not it’s before the August recess, the Protect College Sports Act of 2026 bill is likely to make it to the Senate floor. We’ll see if it passes the two critical votes of cloture and then if that happens, the bill itself. If it passes cloture, it will, in all likelihood pass the Senate.
Then it’s on to the House.
The issue of employee status is still up in the air, and that has not been added to any current standing amendment draft. At some point this year, it’s a reasonable bet that some form of collegiate sports reform will pass this session. More updates as they get distilled out are coming.
GO HOKIES!!!
Continue reading...
