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FILE – Oregon State players celebrate after defeating Portland in an NCAA college basketball game in the final of the West Coast Conference women’s tournament on Tuesday, March 11, 2025, in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n
John Locher \/ AP<\/p>\n
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OPB’s “First Look” is your guide to Northwest news and culture, delivered to your inbox every weekday and Saturday morning.<\/p>\n
The state\u2019s Employment Relations Board is considering whether members of Oregon State University\u2019s women\u2019s basketball team are school employees with the power to unionize. <\/p>\n
The board\u2019s eventual decision \u2014 which could take months and is likely to be challenged \u2014 could have significant effects beyond Corvallis. It\u2019s the latest chapter in an ongoing and complex debate, five years after the U.S. Supreme Court allowed college athletes to receive compensation beyond scholarships.<\/p>\n
During the first of two sets of hearings earlier this month in Corvallis, Oregon State players told an administrative law judge about the discrepancy in compensation for some college athletes. They described the demands of college athletic participation as the same as paid employment. In contrast, representatives for OSU administration asserted that the players are students who play basketball as part of their college experience, not for wages. <\/p>\n
\u201cAthletes \u2014 or students, period \u2014 performing physically to the peak of their possibilities,\u201d is why OSU sponsors women\u2019s basketball, the school\u2019s provost and executive vice president Roy Haggerty said during the September hearing. \u201cSo women\u2019s basketball and other intercollegiate sports allows athletes in those sports to perform to the maximum level of their abilities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Haggerty and other OSU officials argued that basketball is an enhancement of the college experience, but academics is the primary purpose. <\/p>\n
The players described an atmosphere where they are already receiving compensation in the form of scholarships, stipends, and most recently revenue-sharing for use of their name, image and likeness. <\/p>\n
\u201cI hope that if we get seen as employees that people on my team will get paid fairly,\u201d Jenna Villa, second-year shooting guard, said at one of the September hearings. \u201cAnd also healthcare benefits, protection as players, and just being able to have our own voice in what happens to us and make sure it\u2019s fair.\u201d<\/p>\n
Haggerty and Villa spoke during hearings held in mid-September at the university\u2019s campus. <\/p>\n
The push from the players at OSU comes as widespread changes in the business of college sports have renewed calls to define athletes as employees of their schools. The unclear restrictions around colleges, players and the lucrative sports industry have sparked multiple lawsuits<\/a> and other efforts to define the role of student-athletes.<\/p>\n The governing body for college sports, the NCAA, continues to argue that student-athletes are not employees, and therefore cannot enter into collective bargaining agreements. Instead, the NCAA has looked to Congress \u2014 which has remained largely inactive on the topic \u2014 to put guardrails around athlete pay on campuses.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, a growing number of student-athletes as well as coaches, lawmakers and professional sports unions say unionizing players and entering into collective bargaining agreements are the best ways to protect both athletes and schools from the constantly changing landscape.<\/p>\n \u201cI do believe what we do is not easy and we do provide a lot for the university,\u201d Mackenzie Shivers, third-year OSU guard, said at the September hearing.<\/p>\n Continuing healthcare is something Shivers would push for if the team becomes unionized. Shivers injured a ligament in her right knee during her senior year of high school, and then tore a ligament in her left knee during her first year at OSU.<\/p>\n \u201cI do have some knee surgeries in my future, so I hope some things like that could be covered in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n Shivers and Villa were among 10 out of 13 team members that signed the petition to unionize. <\/p>\n Corvallis hearings part of lengthy process<\/p>\n Although the process has been years in the making, the OSU women\u2019s basketball team officially filed the paperwork this summer, asking the university to recognize them as a bargaining unit represented by the United College Athletes Association. It\u2019s part of a wider effort among the UCAA \u2014 which was co-founded by former OSU basketball standout Mikayla Pivec \u2014 to unionize college athletes. <\/p>\n More than 100 women\u2019s basketball players across the country have signed on to UCAA\u2019s effort, which is also backed by national labor law firm O\u2019Donoghue & O\u2019Donoghue. It also has support from unions for professional athletes and other big labor groups<\/a>.<\/p>\n At the end of August, OSU objected to the team\u2019s petition<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cPlaying on a college basketball team is not service performed for hire,\u201d the school wrote in its objection. \u201cStudent-athletes at OSU matriculate to obtain an education and voluntarily pursue basketball as part of that experience. Games, practices, conditioning, and other activities develop the student-athlete\u2019s own skills and complement her educational experience.\u201d<\/p>\n OSU\u2019s objection triggered a potentially lengthy consideration process for the state\u2019s employment relations board. The two days of hearings this month are just the beginning. <\/p>\n In upcoming hearings planned for October, members of the OSU athletics staff are expected to testify. <\/p>\n The administrative law judge in the case is expected to forward their recommendation to the full Oregon Employment Relations Board. The three-member board<\/a> can affirm the judge\u2019s recommendation, or can reach a different determination. The earliest that is likely to happen is December.<\/p>\n Whatever the board decides is likely to be challenged. The challenger\u2019s argument would determine which court picks up the case, and it could eventually be heard by the Oregon Court of Appeals. <\/p>\n