College football players form union for athletes

Calling the NCAA a “dictatorship,” a handful of Northwestern football players announced Tuesday that they are forming the first labor union for college athletes – one they hope eventually will represent players nationwide.

Quarterback Kain Colter detailed the College Athletes Players Association at a news conference in Chicago, flanked by leaders of the United Steelworkers union, who are lending their organizing expertise to the effort. Colter said the NCAA dictates terms to its hundreds of member schools and thousands of college athletes, leaving players with little or no say about financial compensation questions or how to improve their own safety.

“The current model represents a dictatorship,” he said.

The association’s president, former UCLA football player Ramogi Huma, said it is an issue of fairness for a game that generates billions “off the players’ talent.” Not only don’t college athletes get paid, he said, but scholarships typically don’t cover many basic living expenses.

Conner Mertens, a redshirt freshman placekicker at Division III Willamette in Salem, Ore., announced that he is bisexual, saying he was tired of pretending he was something he wasn’t.

Mertens, 19, said he also wanted to help dispel the stereotypes and stigmas associated with bisexual athletes. He said he announced his sexual orientation to his teammates during a meeting Monday. A story about him appeared on Outsports.com on Tuesday.

“It got to a point where I just got tired of it, trying to hide who I was and trying to pretend I was something I was not,” he said.

Coach Glen Fowles said the players were overwhelmingly supportive of his decision.

“It’s been great to see the way our guys have rallied around,” Fowles said. “For our guys, Conner is just a kicker.”

Source: SF Gate