ATLANTA — The way Cardel Thomas sees things, it wasn’t so much the system that let him down.
As college players consider the pros and cons of unionizing in an ever-changing industry, the story of an offensive lineman who signed with four schools in five years is a good one to tell. .
Thomas’ father Karl passed away in 2023 after insurmountable kidney problems. Cardel, who did not want to give his name, said one of the schools promised help when his father’s health began to deteriorate.
Help never came. Thomas was injured. Rumors about marijuana use spread despite Thomas saying he had never failed a drug test. Frequent visits to the transfer portal were dogged by never-ending questions about whether he would be durable or reliable enough.
Thomas went through Louisiana, Florida and Missouri before eventually signing with Deion Sanders, but he barely made it to the field at Colorado in his final year of eligibility.
By the time he got there, it was too late anyway.
“I think if I had taken the NIL in my third year, I might have been able to buy my father a kidney, and he might not have died,” said Thomas, who decided to change universities. He talked about paying for name, image, and likeness rights. Sports.
Could the situation have been improved if there was a players’ association?
Thomas is one of about 4,000 athletes who have come together to become one of the most disruptive forces in a disrupted industry.
Athletes.org held meetings with more than 50 of these players over the weekend leading up to Monday’s national title game between Ohio State and Notre Dame.
The organization calls itself the “Players Association for College Athletes,” and although there is an NCAA Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, it is trying to gain a foothold in an industry where no formal athlete group exists outside of the NCAA tent. It is one of two organizations that
One of its members, Grant House, a competitive swimmer at Arizona State, is involved in the House Settlement, which determines the terms of many of the industry’s most vexing issues, including revenue sharing, NIL payments, roster limits, and Title IX. The name was chosen.
“It’s not just my name on the case,” House said. “I did this for the people around me. I did this for dozens of others in the room across the hall, and others across the country.”
Another is junior college-turned-Vanderbilt player Diego Pavia, who has sued for a fifth year of eligibility, his plight hinting at a possible move to grant a fifth year to all players. are. (Mr. Pavia attended the meeting in Atlanta but declined to be interviewed.)
Yet another is basketball player Sedona Prince. The viral video of the sparse weight room at the 2020 women’s March Madness remains an uplifting symbol of all that can go wrong in college sports.
“What I’m all about is making change, making real change, and that’s what I’m doing,” Prince said in an interview with The Associated Press last week. Generational wealth of athletes. ”
Players as employees scare schools, but players are interested
Jim Cavale, the organization’s co-founder, said Athlete.org’s mission is not necessarily to have athletes declared employees. Still, when we asked those who attended this weekend’s conference if they wanted to learn more about the pros and cons of employment models, 94% said yes.
“The question is not, ‘Do athletes want to be employees or do athletes not want to be employees?’ What matters is how athletes are treated, and they have been treated like employees for a long time. “It means that we have been taught,” he said.
Many university officials view the idea of treating athletes as employees as an existential threat, putting hundreds of athletes in every sport on the payroll and earning scholarships, severance packages, and in some cases no pay. If forced to do so, the athletic department insists it would have to make significant cuts to its programs. money.
Over the past two weeks, these power brokers breathed a sigh of relief when plaintiffs in two major employment model initiatives in Dartmouth and Southern California called off their lawsuits.
Cavale argues that no one should be convinced that hiring is a game killer.
Some athletes don’t want to do that because they have to pay payroll taxes on scholarships and benefits and without NIL funds to offset that they can end up in the red. There may be some, he argues. Others, particularly in football and basketball, may benefit.
“That’s the breadth of college athletics,” Cavale said. “So many schools, so many sports, so many athletes. It’s not one-size-fits-all.”
Names behind NCAA lawsuit hope decision benefits everyone
House and Prince are named in the lawsuit, but most of the decisions made by the lawsuit are being debated by lawyers, judges, conferences and the NCAA.
“For the past five years, every day has been different than the day before,” House said. “It’s about adapting, adjusting, being adaptable…and working on solutions that actually help everyone.”
Prince said there are things he would like to see. For example, he wants schools to make the most of the 22%, or $20.5 million, they can pay players next school year. “Athletes, we don’t have student-athletes.”
However, her confidence in the event is not so high, which is also why she is asking for a bigger seat at the table.
“Historically, time and time again, unless you force them to change, they’re not going to do it on their own,” she said. “So I hope it’s a fair and just system that feels right.”
