Stanford football players join push for collective bargaining - ESPN

Stanford football players have formed a campus chapter of the College Football Players Association, making the Cardinal the first team to partner with the organization, which aims to eventually unionize college athletes.

The players are not yet petitioning to form a union or be deemed employees, but their announcement Monday marks a first step toward building a structure for college athletes to collectively bargain like professional athletes, a once-verboten idea that has gained popularity in recent years as high-level college sports become more professionalized.

The CFBPA hopes to establish bargaining units on a conference-by-conference basis, according to Stanford chapter leaders Fisher Anderson and Ernest Cooper, who play center and linebacker, respectively, for the Cardinal. If and when the organization has signed up the majority of players at every school in a conference, it plans to take steps to formally unionize. Anderson and Cooper told ESPN it could be years before the players are able to bargain with ACC officials, but they believe their decision will encourage other teams to join.

«I'm not sure on a timeline,» Anderson said. «But my personal opinion is that it's inevitable more so than possible. It needs to happen. The question is when.»

Several other programs in the ACC and other power conferences are on the cusp of forming their own chapters, according to CFBPA executive director Jason Stahl. He declined to say which schools, or how many players from each team need to join the association before they elect leaders and form a chapter.

Collective bargaining is one of two main pathways that college sports leaders say could provide legal stability amid the steady flow of lawsuits that have shaped their industry