“We try to have a hard edge or whatever, and you’re in there in your tights dancing on TikTok ain’t quite the image of our program that I want,” Rodriguez said at a March 10 news conference.
The decree was quickly forgotten by most — except Paul McDonald, the lawyer in a class-action case that has been in the background the past few years but is set to move to the front.
The NCAA is hoping to soon finalize a settlement in another case, House vs. NCAA, which centered on its past restrictions on athletes earning money for their name, image and likeness opportunities. The NCAA has agreed to pay out billions in damages to former players and revenue-sharing for current and future players and generally agreed to a new model for the new era.
But there’s another major case in the pipeline, Johnson vs. the NCAA, and it covers a thorny issue for the NCAA: employment. That’s where McDonald comes in, along with Rodriguez’s TikTok ban and rules like it.
In pro sports, where players have a union, any coach or team rule that a player deems over the line could be subject to a grievance. That’s not the case in college sports, where athletes are not deemed employees and are not unionized. The coaches’ rules have tended to be law, with the main recourse being public shaming or players leaving — something that has been made much easier in recent years. But whether players should have to resort to that is part of the question.
Why is the question of employment so important? It could be the major step toward the unionization of college athletes, which would allow for negotiated rules, as in pro sports, that would not be subject to court injunctions. It’s seen as one way toward the end of unlimited transfers, one reason that coaches like Lane Kiffin have advocated for it.
But the NCAA is fighting it because of economic and cultural concerns. McDonald and other advocates see it as an issue of fairness. There are many layers to the debate, enough for a college thesis. Control is just one of them.
McDonald filed the Johnson case on behalf of former Villanova football player Ralph Johnson in 2019, and others have since joined.It does not have a trial date yet but has been going through the system for a while; a judge denied the NCAA’s initial request for dismissal four years ago.
As much as the pendulum has swung in the direction of players the past few years — NIL, unlimited transferring — McDonald believes the employer-employee dynamic remains strong.
“Rules set at the athletic department and coach levels seem to be trending stricter and more extensive in anticipation of revenue-sharing under the House settlement,” McDonald said.
We’re paying you now, McDonald sees coaches saying to players, so even more reason for you to adhere to our rules.
The NCAA has fought the employee argument, and when it comes to the question of team rules, it has argued they are “intrinsic” to team sports. The question is whether off-field rules apply.
“On the one hand, this is a ...