DU Won't Consider Its Athletes Employees, Despite NLRB Decision

Darin Mackender was quoted in the Denver Business Journal article entitled “DU Won't Consider Its Athletes Employees, Despite NLRB Decision.”

The University of Denver has no plans to consider its student athletes "employees," even if the National Labor Relations Board did in a case involving Northwestern University, according to the article.

Questions arise now over the definition of “amateur,” whether scholarships could become taxable income, and how teams that unionize could play under the rules of the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

Darin said if the regional NLRB decision is upheld, “it will be a blockbuster development.”

“Private institutions that offer scholarships to athletes in any sport are talking about the decision,” he said. “Most immediately it impacts Northwestern, but beyond that, other private schools that play Division I football because facts are so similar.”

Read the full article.