It's the Brian Larry Show on WNYC. Good morning, everyone. So as March Madness begins,

we will start and end the show today talking about college basketball. Coming up later,

we'll discuss the new all-time scoring leader in college hoops, Caitlin Clark, and the ongoing

rise in popularity of the women's game. Right now, the groundbreaking decision by the Dartmouth

men's team to form a union. Can student athletes do that? What's this all about? We are now in the

NCAA Division I basketball tournament, also known as March Madness. It's a single elimination

tournament that determines this year's national champion in the National Collegiate Athletic Association,

the NCAA. Last year, the men's championship game Athletic Association, the NCAA.

Last year, the men's championship game,

Yukon over San Diego State on CBS,

averaged a record low 15 million viewers,

little under 15 million viewers, according to Forbes.

Still, that viewership was higher than any of the six NBA finals games, pro basketball,

which came in the previous season.

That year, 2022, NCAA Division I Athletics, generated $17 billion in revenue.

Now, with all that attention and revenue, some student athletes are asking, at what point are they employees of their school? There are two cases before the National Labor Relations

Board. That's the federal agency that has jurisdiction over private employers questioning the

college sports model. I mentioned Dartmouth. Maybe some of you have heard,

because this has been around a few weeks. The Dartmouth men's basketball team cast votes to

become the first college athletes to unionize. The school in turn has announced, no, it will not

negotiate. And across the country at the University of Southern California, a hearing in Los Angeles

to determine whether its men and women's basketball players as well as their football players

...