Dartmouth players say athletes backing their push to unionize - ESPN

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The two Dartmouth players working to unionize their basketball team say other athletes, both on campus and from other Ivy League schools, have been reaching out to see if they can join the effort.

Romeo Myrthil and Cade Haskins said on Saturday they have been bombarded with messages on social media since a National Labor Relations Board official ruled this week that the Big Green players are employees of the school with the right to form a union.

«You kind of want to keep it on the low key, especially in the beginning phases,» Haskins said after Dartmouth played Harvard in its first game since the ruling. «But everyone's really curious and kind of seeing the opportunity for real change in the future with what we've started doing.»

Although the NCAA has long maintained that players are «student-athletes» who were in school primarily to study, college sports has grown into a multibillion dollar industry that richly rewards the coaches and schools while the players remained unpaid amateurs.

Recent court decisions have chipped away at that model, with athletes now allowed to profit off their name, image and likeness. On Monday, an NLRB official further damaged the NCAA model by agreeing with the Dartmouth basketball players that they were employees of the school, and thus entitled to unionize.

Speaking to two reporters after the game, a 77-59 Harvard victory, Myrthil and Haskins said they remain committed to including other teams and schools in the effort. Following the ruling, they announced plans to form a union of Ivy athletes to represent athletes across the conference.

«We want to try to expand it to an Ivy League Players Association, because that's the one we're most invested in,» Myrthil said. «But