We’re about 10 days from preseason practices beginning and roughly a month from the first college football games of the season.
But something happened Monday that barely registered as a tremor. Years from now, it could be remembered as the beginning of an earthquake that reshaped college sports.
A group of Stanford football players formed the first chapter of the College Football Players Association.
It’s the first time a team has reached the CFBPA’s membership threshold to elect representatives, and it’s one of the clearest signs yet that college football players are building toward collective bargaining.
And honestly, I hope this is the beginning of something bigger.
“Fixing” college sports has been all the rage this summer. Collegiate decision-makers have talked about stabilizing the system, regulating NIL, managing transfers, creating guardrails, restoring order, all the usual buzzwords.
But the loudest voices in that conversation have mostly been commissioners, presidents and lobbyists. The people who actually play the games have been treated like an audience instead of participants.
The Stanford chapter flips that dynamic. It’s small, sure. It’s early. It’s going to take a lot more schools and a lot more organizing. But it’s a real step toward the one solution that actually makes sense: collective bargaining.
If college sports are going to keep drifting toward a professional model, then the players need a seat at the table. Not as props. Not as talking points. As workers negotiating the terms of their employment. That’s how the NFL works. That’s how the NBA works. That’s how every major professional league works.
And yes, that means acknowledging something college leaders have spent years avoiding.
Athletes should be recognized as employees. They receive compensation from their schools, generate billions of dollars and operate inside a system that looks more like professional sports every season. Pretending the work is something else doesn’t change what it has become.
Of course, getting from here to a full players’ union won’t be easy.
Under the CFBPA’s envisioned path, chapters would need to form across multiple schools, players would eventually sign union cards and conferences would be asked to recognize bargaining units. Public-school athletes would also face different state labor laws depending on where they play.
It’s a long, difficult road. But it’s a real road. And it’s a lot more honest than the alternative.
Because while players are organizing, college leaders are still doing what they’ve done for years: asking Congress to bail them out.
The Protect College Sports Act is sitting in the Senate, and depending on who you ask or what you read, it may not even get a vote anytime soon. Even if it does, it’s unclear whether it has the support to pass.
And that’s probably for the best.
The bill would regulate athletes without giving them meaningful input. It would cap compensation, limit transfers and tighten eligibility. It’s a top‑down fix designed by people who want to stabilize the system without sharing power.
You can’t “fix” college sports by sidelining the players. Unless, of course, your goal is to turn back the clock to a time when athletes had far less leverage.
That’s the part that frustrates me most. College leaders expect athletes to work hard, lift weights at dawn, run in the summer heat, study late, perform on Saturdays and generate millions of dollars.
But when it comes to doing the hard work themselves — building a modern labor structure, negotiating with players, accepting shared power — suddenly it’s too complicated. It’s too hard, there are too many hurdles, etc.
Rules for thee, not for me. It’s easier to ask Congress for help.
That’s why the Stanford chapter matters. It’s a reminder that players don’t have to wait for someone else to fix things. They can organize. They can negotiate. They can build something that actually reflects their needs instead of someone else’s fears.
They can force schools, conferences, the NCAA and anyone else to sit down at a negotiating table.
It’s one chapter. One school. One step.
But it’s the right step. And if more players follow Stanford’s lead, college sports might finally move toward a solution that doesn’t rely on Congress, nostalgia or wishful thinking.
A real players’ union won’t be quick. It won’t be easy. But it’s the most honest and sustainable path that treats athletes like the central figures they already are.
And I hope this is the start of that path.
