Labor victory for Dartmouth basketball players only start of path to a union deal Boston 25 News [Video]

BOSTON — (AP) — A ruling that gives the Dartmouth basketball team the right to unionize has far-reaching implications for all of college sports — from the quaint, academically oriented Ivy League to the big-money football factories like Michigan and Alabama.

But it’s not time to cut down the nets just yet.

Although Monday’s ruling by a National Labor Relations Board official put the players on the path toward a union, they have a long way to go — years, maybe — before they would be able to sit down with the school and negotiate a collective bargaining agreement.

Dartmouth has said it will appeal the regional official’s decision to the full NRLB; another loss for the school there could send the case into the federal courts, where an outcome is unlikely before most of the current players have picked up their diplomas and moved on to jobs that are …