A ruling that gives the Dartmouth basketball team the right to unionize has far-reaching implications for all of college sports — from the quaint, academically oriented Ivy League to the big-money football factories like Michigan and Alabama.
But it’s not time to cut down the nets just yet.
Although last Monday’s ruling by a National Labor Relations Board official put the players on the path toward a union, they have a long way to go — years, maybe — before they would be able to sit down with the school and negotiate a collective bargaining agreement.
Dartmouth has said it will appeal the regional official’s decision to the full NRLB; another loss for the school there could send the case into the federal courts, where an outcome is unlikely before mos