 Northwestern football players qualify under federal law as employees of the university and, therefore, can legally form the nation's first college athletes' union, the National Labor Relations Board announced Wednesday. FILE - In this Jan. 28, 2014, file photo, Northwestern quarterback Kain Colter, right, speaks while College Athletes Players Association President Ramogi Huma listens during a news conference in Chicago.... (Associated Press) 
 
 The decision by a regional director of the National Labor Relations Board means it agrees football players at the Big Ten school qualify as employees under federal law and therefore can legally unionize. "Based on the entire record in this case, I find that the Employer's football players who receive scholarships fall squarely within (federal labor law's) broad definition of 'employee," Peter Sung Ohr, the NLRB regional director, said in his 24-page decision. The Evanston, Ill-based university argued college athletes, as students, don't fit in the same category as factory workers, truck drivers and other unionized workers. Immediately after the ruling, the school announced it plans to appeal to labor authorities in Washington, D.C. 
 
 Alan Cubbage, Northwestern's vice president for university relations, said in a statement that while the school respects "the NLRB process and the regional director's opinion, we disagree with it." The specific goals of the College Athletes Players Association, or CAPA, which would take the lead in organizing the players, include guaranteeing coverage of sports-related medical expenses for current and former players, ensuring better procedures to reduce head injuries and potentially letting players pursue commercial sponsorships. The decision also opens the door for athletes with scholarships at public universities to move more quickly to unionize because state labor boards, which govern public universities, usually follow labor law interpretations issued by the NLRB. Outgoing Northwestern quarterback Kain Colter was the driving force behind forming the College Athletes Players Assn., which would take the lead of organizing the players if a union is formed. CAPA is backed by the United Steelworkers, which is covering the group's legal expenses. CAPA attorneys argued that college football is, for all practical purposes, a commercial enterprise that relies on players' labor to generate billions of dollars in profits. "The record makes clear that the employer's scholarship players are identified and recruited in the first instance because of their football prowess and not because of their academic achievement in high school," Ohr wrote. Northwestern balked at that claim, describing scholarship as grants. During the NLRB's five days of hearings in February, Wildcats coach Pat Fitzgerald took the stand for union opponents, and his testimony sometimes was at odds with Colter's.
– Northwestern football players aren't just student-athletes—they're employees of the university who have the right to form a union, a federal official ruled today. How big of a deal is today's ruling by a regional director of the National Labor Relations Board? "The stunning decision has the potential to alter dramatically the world of big-time college sports," writes Alejandra Cancino in the Chicago Tribune. The AP's Michael Tarm uses similar language, calling it a "stunning ruling that could revolutionize college sports." But first things first: The school plans to appeal to the NLRB in Washington, and nothing is expected to change until that decision comes down. Even then, the case could wind up in the Supreme Court. Northwestern's team is the first to seek permission to unionize, and it''s getting help from a players' rights group called the College Athletes Players Association. CAPA, in turn, is getting support from the United Steelworkers union. CAPA's attorneys say that players generate so much money for schools that they are clearly employees, and that they're already getting paid, though not enough, in the form of scholarships. Northwestern's attorneys argued that there's a big distinction between college players and, say, truck drivers, and it called those scholarships not pay but "grants," reports the LA Times. If the NLRB sanctions such unions, expect teams all over to follow suit. Among other things, the unions would likely demand better coverage of medical expenses for current and former players, along with the right to pursue commercial sponsorships.