/ THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CHICAGO – The National Labor Relations Board on Monday threw out a historic ruling that gave Northwestern University football players the go-ahead to form the nation’s first college athletes’ union, saying the prospect of union and nonunion teams could throw off the competitive balance in college football.
The decision dismissed a March 2014 decision by a regional NLRB director in Chicago who said that the football players are effectively school employees and entitled to organize. Monday’s decision did not directly address the question of whether the players are employees.
“Although we do not decide the issue here, we acknowledge that whether such individuals meet the board’s test for employee status is a question that does not have an obvious answer,” the NLRB said.