American Amateur Players Arise: You Have Nothing to Lose but Your Amateurism

Enormous wealth obtained by universities and affiliates through the labor of so-called student athletes, disproportionately Black Americans, is a scandal awaiting redress through law, legislation and the solidarity of the athletes themselves. The response of players to these inequities has taken a number of forms: minimum wage litigation, representation petitions filed with the National Labor Relations Board, antitrust litigation and now so-called pay-to-play legislation in California and elsewhere. The COVID-19 crisis has exposed university reliance upon unpaid labor for revenues, and this has inspired new demands by student athletes.