Dartmouth players may have been hesitant to continue pushing forward and set a precedent under a Trump-controlled NLRB unfriendly to unionization efforts.

The decision may be connected to the incoming Trump administration, which is unlikely to back the athletes’ union petition, one attorney wrote.

The Dartmouth men’s basketball team on Tuesday dropped its attempt to unionize, abruptly ending a push to become the first college athletes to bargain for a contract in order to avoid a potentially damaging precedent from a National Labor Relations Board that soon will be controlled by Republicans.

Dartmouth College’s men’s basketball team is halting efforts to unionize, withdrawing an effort before a labor board with appointees named by President-elect Trump might consider it. “While our

The timing — the final hours of 2024 — was fitting in that the decision reflects what may lie ahead for the college sports labor movement.

A union on Tuesday moved to withdraw its novel bid to represent the Dartmouth College men's basketball team, a move likely calculated to avoid unfavorable rulings by President-elect Donald Trump's appointees to the National Labor Relations Board.

The Dartmouth men's basketball team dropped its attempt to form a union on Tuesday, voluntarily ending a push to become the first college sports team to unionize in order to avoid a potentially damaging precedent from a National Labor Relations Board that soon will be controlled by Republicans.