Fascinating stuff here. I think the most important note from all of this is how little the athletes stand to gain from collective action…
Normally unions form when there is tremendous leverage on the side of management. As we see in virtually every CFB/CBB dilemma today is that elite athletes are the ones holding tremendous leverage
Yep, but I’d push a bit on the time horizon. Completely agree that elite athletes have individual leverage right now, which weakens incentives for collective action.
But, as we know, that leverage is highly positional and temporary—1–5 year careers, high turnover, constant replacement.
Unions usually emerge when individual leverage collapses or becomes unreliable. Roster limits, portal saturation, and non-matriculation will change that calculus. So, all of this exit is masking voice, and that will continue...until it doesn't.
Really thorough political economy read. The incentive misalignment piece is what most analyses skip over. When individual exit beats collective voice, it's not athletes being short-sighted, its the system rewarding exactly that behavior. I sat in on union organizing talks back in grad school and the structrual barriers here are textbook, except amplified by Title IX and antitrust pressure that make institutional commitment nearly impossible.
Exactly. When exit beats voice, it’s not short-sightedness—it’s the system doing what it incentivizes. And you pretty much always get what you incent... Cheers!
Fascinating stuff here. I think the most important note from all of this is how little the athletes stand to gain from collective action…
Normally unions form when there is tremendous leverage on the side of management. As we see in virtually every CFB/CBB dilemma today is that elite athletes are the ones holding tremendous leverage
Yep, but I’d push a bit on the time horizon. Completely agree that elite athletes have individual leverage right now, which weakens incentives for collective action.
But, as we know, that leverage is highly positional and temporary—1–5 year careers, high turnover, constant replacement.
Unions usually emerge when individual leverage collapses or becomes unreliable. Roster limits, portal saturation, and non-matriculation will change that calculus. So, all of this exit is masking voice, and that will continue...until it doesn't.
Really thorough political economy read. The incentive misalignment piece is what most analyses skip over. When individual exit beats collective voice, it's not athletes being short-sighted, its the system rewarding exactly that behavior. I sat in on union organizing talks back in grad school and the structrual barriers here are textbook, except amplified by Title IX and antitrust pressure that make institutional commitment nearly impossible.
Exactly. When exit beats voice, it’s not short-sightedness—it’s the system doing what it incentivizes. And you pretty much always get what you incent... Cheers!