Eight NFL players get franchise tag; Dartmouth men’s basketball votes to unionize

This is an article version of the CBS Sports HQ AM Newsletter, the ultimate guide to every day in sports. You can sign up to get it in your inbox every weekday morning here.

🏀 Good morning to everyone but especially …

THE DARTMOUTH BIG GREEN MEN’S BASKETBALL TEAM

It was a historic day for Dartmouth and for college athletics as a whole: The Big Green men’s basketball team voted, 13-2, to unionize, joining the Service Employees International Union Local 560 in Hanover, New Hampshire.

The vote came exactly one month after a National Labor Relations Board regional manager ruled players were school employees and therefore able to vote to unionize. That ruling came after the team petitioned to unionize in September 2023, listing Dartmouth College/Dartmouth College Board of Trustees as the employer.

While the vote represents another step forward — and an unprecedented one at that — it’s “unlikely to be the final say on the matter as Dartmouth pushes back on the classification that its basketball players are employees of the school,” David Cobb notes.

Last month, Dennis Dodd explained how a team unionizing could change college athletics forever, and David provided more details following Tuesday’s vote:

• Cobb: “In addition to the financial benefits of becoming employees, unionizing would give athletes a greater say in shaping their collegiate experiences. University of Pennsylvania professor Karen Weaver, an expert on the intersection of higher education and college sports, told CBS News last week that unionizing will give athletes an avenue to sit down with administrators and negotiate on matters such as practice length, medical care and more.”

As if that wasn’t…