Sports briefs
By NewsPress Now
Dartmouth men’s basketball team
votes to unionize
HANOVER, N.H. | The Dartmouth men’s basketball team voted to unionize Tuesday in an unprecedented step toward forming the first labor union for college athletes and another blow to the NCAA’s deteriorating amateur business model.
In an election supervised by the National Labor Relations Board in the school’s human resources offices, the players voted 13-2 to join Service Employees International Union Local 560, which already represents some Dartmouth workers. Every player on the roster voted.
“Today is a big day for our team,” said Dartmouth juniors Cade Haskins and Romeo Myrthil, who have led the effort. “We stuck together all season and won this election. It is self-evident that we, as students, can also be both campus workers and union members. Dartmouth seems to be stuck in the past. It’s time for the age of amateurism to end.”
The school quickly appealed to the full NLRB, seeking to overturn last month’s decision by the board’s regional official that the Dartmouth players are employees and thus entitled to unionize. Both sides also have until March 12 to file an objection with the NLRB over the election procedures; barring that, the SEIU will be certified as the workers’ bargaining representative.
The case could also wind up in federal court, which would likely delay negotiations over a collective bargaining agreement until long after the current members of the basketball team have graduated.
Dartmouth had told students that unionizing could get the team kicked out of the Ivy League, or even the NCAA. In a statement, the school said it was supportive of the five unions it negotiates with on campus, including SEIU Local 560, but insisted that the players are students, not employees.
“For Ivy League students who are varsity athletes, academics are of primary importance, and athletic pursuit is part of the educational experience,” the school said in a statement. “Classifying these students as employees simply because they play basketball is as unprecedented as it is inaccurate. We, therefore, do not believe unionization is appropriate.”
ATHLETES OR EMPLOYEES?
Although the NCAA has long maintained that its players are “student-athletes” who were in school primarily to study, college sports has grown into a multibillion-dollar industry that richly rewards coaches and schools while the players remained unpaid amateurs.
Recent court decisions have chipped away at that framework, with players now allowed to profit off their name, image and likeness and earn a still-limited stipend for living expenses beyond the cost of attendance. Last month’s decision that the Big Green players are employees of the school, with the right to form a union, threatens to upend the amateur model.
“I think this is just the start,” Haskins said after voting. “I think this is going to have a domino effect on other cases across the country, and that could lead to other changes.”
A separate complaint being heard by the NLRB is asking that football and basketball players at Southern California be deemed employees of their school, the Pac-12 conference and the NCAA.
In a statement, the NCAA said athletes should not be forced into an employment model.
“The association believes change in college sports is long overdue and is pursuing significant reforms. However, there are some issues the NCAA cannot address alone, and the association looks forward to working with Congress to make needed changes in the best interest of all student-athletes,” the NCAA said.
Marc Edelman, a law professor at Baruch College in New York, said even if Dartmouth prevails in its attempts to stop the players from unionizing, it is unlikely to set a precedent to stop similar movements at higher-profile, revenue-generating college sports programs.
“It does not seem likely to foreclose the possibility of the football and basketball teams at schools within conferences such as the SEC and the Big Ten still moving forward with an attempt to form a union,” Edelman said.
THE DARTMOUTH DECISION
The vote at Dartmouth took about an hour, with players filing in before the NLRB representative declared, at 1 p.m., that voting was closed. After media and observers from both sides were allowed into the room, Dartmouth attorney Josh Grubman renewed the school’s request to impound the ballots until all the appeals could be held; the boait was denied.
NLRB agent Hilary Bede then pulled packing tape from the brown cardboard board, took out the ballots and held up the deconstructed box to show it was empty. She then sorted the folded yellow ballots into “Yes” and “No” piles and checked them for irregularities before counting them out one by one.
Although all 15 players had signed a letter supporting the effort, labor advocates said the 13-2 vote still represented a clear victory. (The team did not wait for the count: It had a 2 p.m. shootaround to prepare for Tuesday night’s season-ending game against Harvard.)
Major League Baseball Players Association executive director Tony Clark applauded the players “for their courage and leadership in the movement to establish and advance the rights of college athletes.”
“By voting to unionize, these athletes have an unprecedented seat at the table and a powerful voice with which to negotiate for rights and benefits that have been ignored for far too long,” he said.
THE POTENTIAL IMPACT
A college athletes union would be unprecedented in American sports. A previous attempt to unionize the Northwestern football team failed because opponents in the Big Ten include public schools that aren’t under the jurisdiction of the NLRB.
That is why one of the NCAA’s biggest threats isn’t coming in one of the big-money football programs like Alabama or Michigan, which are largely indistinguishable from professional sports teams. Instead, it is the academically oriented Ivy League, formed in 1954, where players don’t receive athletic scholarships, teams play in sparsely filled gymnasiums and the games are streamed online instead of broadcast on network TV.
“These young men will go down as one of the greatest basketball teams in all of history,” SEIU international president Mary Kay Henry said. “The Ivy League is where the whole scandalous model of nearly free labor in college sports was born and that is where it is going to die.”
Dan Hurley, the coach of the defending national champion UConn men’s team, said he believes unionization and treating players as employees is the future of college basketball.
“These players are putting in incredible work days, work weeks for five, six months,” he said.
Haskins, a 6-foot-6 forward from Minneapolis, is already a member of the SEIU local as a school employee, working 10-15 hours a week on a 10 p.m.-2 a.m. shift in the dining halls to earn spending money; Myrthil, a 6-foot-2 guard from Solna, Sweden, also has a part-time job checking people into the gym.
They said their top bargaining priority is health insurance so they wouldn’t have out-of-pocket costs for their injuries.
“I’m playing a sport I love, and grateful to be doing it,” said Haskins, who has had an ankle injury to go with torn labrums in his hip and shoulder. “But it definitely is a burden.”
Myrthil and Haskins have said they would like to form an Ivy League Players Association that would include athletes from other sports on campus and other schools in the conference. They said they understood that change could come too late to benefit them and their current teammates; the roster includes four seniors, five juniors, three sophomores and three freshman.
“We’re confident in the group we have right now. But it depends on how long this goes,” Myrthil said. “We’ll see. Next year we’ll get to talk to our freshmen and introduce them to the idea, and what it means. And then hopefully it gets passed on. And I’m pretty confident it will.”
Seahawks’ makeover begins as Jamal Adams, Quandre Diggs and Will Dissly are released
RENTON, Wash. | The Seattle Seahawks’ remodel under new coach Mike Macdonald started Tuesday as the team released safeties Jamal Adams and Quandre Diggs, and tight end Will Dissly in moves that will give the team a boost of salary cap space ahead of the start of the new league year.
The release of Diggs and Dissly will save Seattle $18 million against the cap. They will get about $6 million in cap relief with the release of Adams but also take on nearly $20 million in dead cap money by releasing him immediately and not waiting until after June 1.
Outside of Seattle’s decision to keep Geno Smith on board as the presumptive quarterback going into next season, the three roster moves are the most significant made so far since Macdonald was hired as the replacement for Pete Carroll.
Seattle general manager John Schneider said at last week’s NFL combine that this was the week the team intended on starting to make some roster decisions with free agency on the horizon.
The release of Adams concludes four disappointing seasons in Seattle that were defined by injuries and one big contract that Adams never played up to. Seattle felt Adams was the missing piece when it sent two first-round picks to the New York Jets before the 2020 season. They stayed true to the commitment when the Seahawks signed Adams to a four-year deal worth up to $70 million after his first year in Seattle.
At times early in his Seattle tenure, Adams looked to be the dynamic presence the Seahawks were seeking when the trade was made. But injuries and problems as a pass defender ultimately limited what he could provide and made him a liability on the field.
Adams suffered through injuries to his shoulder and fingers, but the most impactful to his career was a torn quadriceps tendon suffered in the 2022 season opener. It took more than a year for Adams to return and when he did, he was limited in how much he could play.
Adams had two years left on his contract with Seattle but no more guaranteed money.
Both Diggs and Dissly were entering the final years of their contracts.
Diggs had been a leader for Seattle since his arrival via trade from Detroit during the 2019 season. Diggs made three straight Pro Bowls between 2020-22, but his production dipped in 2023 as Seattle’s defense regressed throughout the season.
Diggs started all 72 games he played during his Seattle tenure and had 32 passes defensed and 18 interceptions in the regular season.
The release of both Adams and Diggs leaves Julian Love as the only safety with extensive playing time on Seattle’s roster.
Dissly was a fourth-round pick by Seattle in 2018 and opted to stay with the Seahawks on a three-year contract signed before the 2022 season. Dissly was always a blocking-first tight end, but his role as a pass catcher took a dip in 2023 as he had only 17 receptions on 22 targets and one touchdown.
The move with Dissly leaves Seattle lacking a tight end with experience on the roster at the moment as both Noah Fant and Colby Parkinson can be free agents when the new league year begins next week.
MLB The Show 24 unveils female player mode
MLB The Show 24 has unveiled a female player mode for this year’s video game.
A trailer released Tuesday showcases “Road to the Show: Women Pave Their Way” for the game scheduled to be released March 19.
“For the first time ever, you can create and play as a female ballplayer, with a unique Road to the Show story that evolves with the player over the course of your career,” the video game’s website reads. “This path will include all existing features of Road to the Show with the addition of a unique-to-women storyline following a lifelong friendship as it develops in professional baseball.”
The trailer features a nod to Kelsie Whitmore, the first female player in an MLB partnered league. Whitmore is a pitcher and outfielder for the Staten Island FerryHawks in the Atlantic League.
“To me, this project is a great opportunity for the world to be informed of women who play baseball and that taking their skills to the next level is possible,” Whitmore said in a statement on the website. “My hopes for this project is to educate others that women/girls do play baseball and that they are capable of competing in this game at every level.”
Mollie Braley, the game’s narrative designer, said in a statement that Whitmore and others were involved in the story mode’s development.
“This feature was inspired by the stories of women in baseball,” Braley said. “Throughout history, women have been making waves in the sport. These include legends such as Toni Stone, who was one of the first women ever to play professional baseball.”
Dolphins release Jerome Baker, clearing nearly $10M in cap space
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. | The Miami Dolphins released linebacker Jerome Baker on Tuesday, a move that frees up about $9.8 million in salary cap space.
Baker, whom the Dolphins drafted in the third round in 2018, was entering the final year of a three-year extension but is coming off a season in which he missed extended time because of injuries.
An MCL sprain caused Baker to miss four games late last season. He then had to have season-ending wrist surgery following Miami’s regular season finale, which sidelined him for the Dolphins’ 26-7 playoff loss to Kansas City.
Baker made 82 starts for Miami and had 22 1/2 sacks, five interceptions and six forced fumbles.
General manager Chris Grier said at the NFL combine last week that the team wanted “to have Baker here.”
“I think the big thing for us was to have the new defensive staff come in, spend time watching the team, watching the defense as a staff together,” Grier said. “Once we have those discussions with the defensive staff, (coach) Mike (McDaniel) will get together and then we’ll make that decision here in the next couple of weeks.”
In another potential loss to a defense that finished 10th overall last season, defensive tackle Christian Wilkins is set to enter free agency after previously seeking a contract extension. Miami declined to place the franchise tag on Wilkins on Tuesday.
Cutting Baker creates a dead cap hit of about $4.9 million for the Dolphins, who also cleared about $2.9 million by cutting cornerback Keion Crossen. Miami also signed defensive tackle Isaiah Mack on Tuesday.
Miami faces some uncertainty at linebacker with two star pass rushers working their way back from season-ending injuries. Jaelan Phillips tore his Achilles tendon last November, and Bradley Chubb suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.
Grier also confirmed at the combine that the Dolphins are expected to move on from veteran cornerback Xavien Howard, who is the team’s longest-tenured player. Miami will release Howard at the start of the new league year on March 13.
—From AP reports
