NCAA chief Charlie Baker warns about potential dire consequences of treating student athletes as employees

NCAA President Charlie Baker says player's ability to play college sports would be endangered by a court ruling or regulatory decision declaring them employees of their schools.

A Tennessee judge on Friday ruled that the NCAA could not block schools from using NIL money to recruit athletes. It's part of the ongoing battle as student-athletes are fighting to be employees of the school and be paid to play their sport.

However, Baker says that student-athletes being employees of schools would not work and he hopes Congress steps in.

“You’re talking about 95 percent of colleges that probably spend somewhere between … $40 million and $5 million on college sports, and they lose money,” Baker said, via Fortune.

“They don’t have TV contracts and nobody can look at their income statements or balance sheets and conclude there would be a way for them to make money."

“I think in the end, we are going to need Congress to do something,” Baker said. “Because people will draw a lot of conclusions from court decisions. And then there will be new ones.

"I completely accept the fact that in the grand scheme of all the things Congress is working on, this one is probably not at the top of the pile."

Baker also claims that the antitrust exemption he is seeking is far narrower than what the NCAA has asked for in the past.

US labor official says Dartmouth basketball players are employees

A regional official of the National Labor Relations Board declared earlier this month that Dartmouth basketball players are school employees. This means that it clears the way for an election to establish the first-ever labor union for NCAA athletes.

All 15 members of the Dartmouth men’s basketball team signed a petition in September asking to join Local 560 of the Service Employees International Union.

However, following the labor official's ruling, Dartmouth associate vice president for communications Diana Lawrence said in a statement that the school will be pushing back against the ruling.

“Dartmouth has a long and proud history of productive relationships with unions on campus, always negotiates in good faith when appropriate, and respects the rights of workers to unionize. However, we do not believe these students are employees,” the statement said.

The NCAA and schools have remained adamant that student-athletes are not employees of the school, but that is now being fought in court.