On Wednesday, March 26, Northwestern University football players won a landmark court case. The case, championed by ex-Northwestern football players, brought forth the argument that college athletes should be compensated, a hotly debated topic in recent times. The case was overseen by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

 The case, when first brought forward by ex-Northwestern quarterback Kain Colter, was largely seen as unwinnable for the athletes. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), argued their point in court that student-athletes are not employees of the university that they attend and play for. The NLRB saw things a little differently, and now Northwestern football players have won the previously unwinnable case.

 “I think it’s good for the players from Northwestern and other college athletes. But I also think paying college athletes is a very bad idea,” said senior Jackson Tettelbach.

The former principle has always been that the university attended by the students would compensate the players for their hours of practice and “working” for the university by paying for their educations in whole. The judge ruled that the players should be able to form a union based upon the time they put forth into their sport and the control that the coaches and university have over the scholarships they earned.

 “I think that they shouldn’t be able to form a union,” said senior Kyle Butt, “It separates the players from the university.”

 For now, this is just a ruling affecting the scholarship football players at the University of Northwestern; however, there is nothing holding back other players at universities across the country from pushing for a similar ruling.

 “College sports are meant for competing to win, not trying to be paid,” said Tettelbach.

 For now, the rulings can only happen at private schools across the country, as collective bargaining at public universities is governed by state law, not the NLRB.

 ESPN analyst Jay Bilas had said “It’s another brick being taken out of the castle the NCAA has constructed. It’s not going to stand forever, and we’re getting closer and closer to it tumbling.”

 That statement echoed what many feel about the case; that this is a stepping stone to college athletes being compensated. A major pushing point in the case brought forward by the leader Colter was when he described that because he played football, he was not able to take the science classes he would’ve like to take in order to pursue his dream of becoming a doctor.

 “If they start paying players, it creates an unfair balance between bigger and smaller schools,” said Butt.

The judge in the case, Peter Ohr, stated many examples of how he believed that football players were different than other students. He mentioned that Northwestern football gained $235 million in revenue from 2003 to 2012, and that the players are recruited for their athletic ability, not their academic ability. He also stated that the football team’s guidelines include drug testing and a rule that players cannot deny friend requests from coaches on Facebook. If any of those rules are broken, their scholarship can be revoked.

“They shouldn’t be compensated for anything they do. That’s what their scholarships are for,” said Butt.

The landmark ruling will surely make headway for changes in college athletics and college sports as they are known today. Many, including the athletes, see this as a stepping stone to ultimately having college athletes being paid as regular employees of the system.

 “It puts the wrong emphasis on college sports. It makes the sport about earning money, and not competing,” said Tettelbach.