"They’re going to kill the goose that laid the golden egg": US Senator claims unions will put an end to college sports in the country

US Senator and former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville has chastised unions in college sports and claimed that it would destroy the whole system if the practice continues.

In an interview with Fox News, Tuberville, who served as the Tigers mentor from 1999-2008, said:

"They’re going to kill the goose that laid the golden egg - all these athletes are - because it pays for everything."

The US lawmaker made the statement after the National Labor Relations Board ruled that Dartmouth's basketball players are school employees and should join the local service union.

Tuberville said that the ruling would allow other groups to form a union and include student-athletes who are under scholarships.

"Scholarships are paid — men and women — but there’s a lot of people that don’t bring in money to universities. But what's going to happen here is you're going to see groups of people that's going to try to unionize, and then it's going to spread across the country," the Republican Senator representing Alabama added.

He expects the situation to worsen if the federal government gets involved and he urges the administration to act immediately.

"And if you want the federal government involved and ruin something, you try to make the student-athletes employees. Soon the federal government will get involved, unions will get involved, and it will be a total disaster," the senator said.

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US Senator Tommy Tuberville sees potential "hostage" situation over unionization ruling

US Senator claims unions will put an end to college sports in the country.

The senator warned there is a possibility that unionized athletes could organize a strike before an important match and hold the school and the sporting community hostage with their actions.

“Coaches right now have a little bit of control of the football team or the basketball team or gymnastics,” said Tuberville, “Problem is, [if] unions get involved, they will go on strike right before a championship game. They will hold hostage the people that are paying the bills.”

The lawmaker teamed up with West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin (Democrat) on the creation of the “Protecting Athletes, Schools and Sports Act of 2023,” or the “Pass Act.” The measure was released in July last year.

Tuberville claimed he encourages players to make money from their name, image, and likeness, or NIL. He said a proposed bill was made in the Senate, but it has not progressed to the floor, as the Democrats wanted to keep unionization out of the picture.

The Senator's Pass Act seeks to resolve the issues on college sports. The measure aims to address the problems concerning uniform contracts; pre-emption of state NIL laws; and the establishment of an agent registry that will be regulated by the Federal Trade Commission.

The proposal would allow players to try out the transfer portal after their third year of eligibility.

Tuberville concluded that unionization is not the solution for college sports even though being an athlete is a "full-time job."

“I’m not against student-athletes making some money because it’s a full-time job being an athlete, and a full-time job being in academics," Tuberville said. "But there’s a way forward where they can do both without unionizing."