On March 5, 2024, news broke of Dartmouth College men’s basketball players’ vote, by a count of thirteen to two, to unionize with Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 560. Much remains to be adjudicated in that case — Dartmouth has already filed an appeal — but the union victory is a step forward for the rights and working conditions of campus athletic workers.

But another case is advancing across the country in Los Angeles: one filed in 2022 by the National Collegiate Players Association (NCPA) arguing that University of Southern California (USC) football and basketball players have been misclassified as amateurs rather than employees. This case has the potential to revolutionize college athletics, because, unlike Dartmouth, which sets precedent only for private institutions, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which adjudicates union organizing in the United States, is treating USC, the Pac-12 conference it belongs to, and the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) as joint employers, which means that public schools may also be covered under its ruling.

The focus on football and basketball also makes the USC case more easily defensible, given the immense amount of revenue that flows from those sports. If USC high-revenue football and basketball players are found to be employees, so too will all other athletes in those sports in public institutions across the country.