BOSTON -- The Dartmouth men's basketball team has scheduled a March 5 election to determine whether the players will unionize -- a step that would be unprecedented in American college sports.
The National Labor Relations Board said the in-person election will take place on the school's Hanover, New Hampshire, campus.
Although the NCAA has long maintained that the players are "student-athletes" -- a term created to emphasize that their education comes first -- the NLRB regional director in Boston ruled Monday that the players were essentially employees of the school.
That cleared the way for a union election.