It's the Brian Larrow 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. about college

who's

whoops, 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 1 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,

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.

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