By Jim Nowlan
Outside Columnist

Northwestern University football players recently filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board that seeks certification of the College Athletes Players Association as a union.

Players in elite football programs do deserve a larger share of the megabucks being generated solely because of their superb athleticism.

Programs such as Alabama, Texas and Ohio State each generate $100-150 million a year and pay their coaches $3-5 million each.

Players receive free tuition, a bounteous training table, and the distant hope of playing professional ball. Yet scholarships leave athletes without money for necessities, and only a small fraction of the athletes ever play professional ball, and then only for an average of two or three years.     Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.