Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh used the platform provided by his team's national championship victory to advocate for player rights on Tuesday, calling unionization "the next step." Speaking the morning after his team's 34-13 College Football Playoff National Championship victory over Washington, Harbaugh made an impassioned case for continued player empowerment.
"The thing I would change about college football is to let the talent share in the ever-increasing revenues," Harbaugh said. "We're all riding the same train. And the ones that are in the position to do the heavy lifting, the ones that risk life and limb out there on the football field are the players. And not just football players, student-athletes. The organizations are fighting hard to keep all the money -- the universities, the NCAA, the conferences. And it's long past time to let the student-athletes share in the ever-increasing revenues."
As CBS Sports' Dennis Dodd noted last week, the NCAA faces several major lawsuits regarding compensation of athletes. That's not including an ongoing administrative process with the National Labor Relations Board that could lead to the unionization of athletes, at least at certain schools.
"There needs to be a voice for the young people, the student-athletes," Harbaugh said. "Right now there is no voice. I mean, there are armies of attorneys, and I've seen them at the NCAA, I've seen them at the universities, the conferences. And then if they don't have enough firepower legally, they go out, hire the tall-building law firms and they get more firepower. But there's no voice for the student-athletes right now, and it just needs to change. That's a wrong that needs to be righted."
NCAA president Charlie Baker proposed in December that schools be permitted to directly negotiate name, image and likeness deals with athletes. Baker's plan also calls for the establishment of trust funds to compensate athletes for schools competing in a new subdivision. The Division I Board of Directors is expected to discuss Baker's proposals this week at the annual NCAA Convention in Phoenix, Arizona. But even if a new subdivision is created with revenue set aside for athletes, it would stop short of providing the athletes with collective bargaining rights.
"People say it's complicated or it takes time," Harbaugh said. "We saw a lot of change in one year, just this year. A whole conference went into the portal overnight. These things could happen. For a long time people say that unionizing would be bad … If they're not going to do it out of their own goodwill and do what's right, that's probably the next step. I have nothing against unions. That's the next step, fellas. I think that's the way you've gotta go. That's what I'd like to see change in college athletics."
Several bureaucratic hurdles remain before any substantive changes are adopted from Baker's proposals. The January 2025 NCAA Convention in Nashville, Tennessee, is one potential point at which action could be finalized. In the meantime, various lawsuits and lobbying efforts with Congress continue as the NCAA seeks help governing college sports in an era of player empowerment.
Rules allowing players to transfer more freely and benefit financially from their NIL have already changed college sports dramatically. But Harbaugh would like to see the scales of the industry continue to balance toward the athletes.
"Coaches, hopefully they'll use their voice, more people" Harbaugh said. "We need more for this cause."
