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Oct. 11, 2021

Episode 20: College Athletes as Employees? Jennifer Abruzzo, General Counsel of the NLRB, Explains

Episode 20: College Athletes as Employees? Jennifer Abruzzo, General Counsel of the NLRB, Explains

College sports have been in the crosshairs of federal and state legislation and antitrust litigation for the last few years, and a new challenge to the status quo has emerged.  Jennifer Abruzzo, General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board, recently released a memo that concludes that scholarship college football players at FBS schools are employees.  She also explains that use of the term "student-athlete" could violate the law because it leads college athletes to believe that they are not employees.

What does this all mean for the future of college athletes and college athletics?  Does this apply to all college athletes in all sports, or just football players? Will this lead to the unionization of college athletes?   Pay for play? What can we expect next?  Jennifer Abruzzo breaks it all down for us.  

Thank you for listening! For the latest in sports law news and analysis, you can follow Gabe Feldman on twitter @sportslawguy .