College sports labor stoppage unlikely

by Chris Littmann
Assistant Sports Editor      

Editor's Note: This is the third of a three-part series dealing with labor issues in sports.

Despite the unionization of some NCAA athletes, it is unlikely that college athletes will be part of any labor stoppage in the future.

Ramogi Huma, a former UCLA football player, is the founder of the Collegiate Athletes Coalition. CAC, which is listed as a student organization like any other at UCLA, is trying to build a union of college athletes in men's basketball and football. Since last year, CAC has expanded its membership from UCLA to the entire Pacific-10 Conference along with Hawaii, Alabama, Saint Louis and Boise State.

Huma said the negative effects of a strike on the respective sports rules it out as a bargaining tactic.

"Out of all the players we've spoken with, the number of players who even mention a strike are few and far between," Huma said.

The Sporting News senior-college basketball writer Mike DeCourcy said he was surprised the CAC would not consider a strike.

"If you're going to all that trouble, you'd think that you'd want to retain all options that are at your disposal," he said.

Huma insists that a strike would be unnecessary because of other tactics, like political pressure.

Ohio men's basketball coach Tim O'Shea said he felt the whole idea of a union for scholarship athletes is absurd.

"This is an insult to real unions to even somehow make a correlation that college athletes are some sort of oppressed group," he said.

Huma, however, said he thinks the CAC could help solves flaws and problems of the NCAA.

"After our congressional hearing, there were a lot of people in the House saying maybe the NCAA should be reformed," Huma said. "It's possible we could go above the NCAA and work through politicians."

DeCourcy said the NCAA is not as strong in the legal system as they once were, but is still a tough opponent to tackle.

"I'm not sure that a group of students, however well organized, would have a lot of success," he said.

O'Shea said the aims of the CAC are based on false pretenses.

"The kids that are forming this thing are showing their ignorance as to the profitability of intercollegiate athletics," he said. "They're subsidized by student fees and other things. They aren't often run in the black."

O'Shea, once a scholarship athlete at Boston College, said he never felt like he got less than his fair share and could never imagine a strike.

"I thought it was the greatest deal going because I had the opportunity to graduate and with no expenses," O'Shea said. "I got to play in front of big crowds, have an elevated status on campus and travel across the country, all because I could play basketball."

Huma said he hopes, despite the criticism, to make a lasting mark.

"It's easy to start a movement, but it's tough to maintain one," he said. "One of the things we want to do is maintain this as a fixture in sports, not a passing movement."