Jay Bilas Explains Why It's a Big Deal for Northwestern Football Players to Have the Right to Unionize (Video)

The ESPN analyst helps make sense of it all.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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Jay Bilas is, hands down, one of our favorite college basketball analysts under the ESPN umbrella. And it's not just because he starts every day off with a Young Jeezy lyric.

Yesterday afternoon, the National Labor Relations Board ruled that Northwestern University football playerscan unionize and form the first college athletes' union in the entire country. This is a big deal because it means that college athletes could potentially get paid one day for providing a service to their schools and universities. Northwestern is planning on appealing the NLRB's ruling sometime in the very near future, because they don't feel that their football players should be considered "employees" of the school. But at least for now, this marks one of the first times that college athletes have taken a serious step towards unionizing and cashing in on their hard work.

What exactly does the NLRB's decision mean in the short term, though? Well, it's sort of complicated. So we were glad to see Bilas—who has been a very vocal critic of the NCAA in the past—make an appearance on Olbermann last night to talk to Keith Olbermann about what the situation at Northwestern represents. And as usual, he came through with a pretty solid explanation of how it will impact collegiate athletics both now and in the future.

Press play if you're still trying to make heads or tails of the NLRB's ruling.

RELATED: Trill: The Complete Guide to Jay Bilas' March Madness Young Jeezy Tweets

[via Keith Olbermann]

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