Last year, College Football Players Association founder and executive director Jason Stahl sat down at a restaurant in Florida for yet another dinner with an FBS football player.
Stahl had spent four years trying to organize college football players to form a union—Zoom meetings, phone calls, trips to college towns, and meals with players across the country—that had yielded plenty of false starts. But this was the dinner that would finally lead to his first team chapter.
“That player said, ‘I don’t think it’s gonna happen here. Or if it does, this place ain’t gonna be the first,’” Stahl told Front Office Sports. “He said, ‘What you need to do is get in touch with [players at] the school I transferred from: Stanford.’”
On Monday, Stanford football players formally launched the CFBPA’s inaugural team “fraternity chapter.” The CFBPA is working to launch chapters at football programs across the country, and Stahl said conversations with multiple schools are progressing. Eventually, these chapters serve as the basis for a formal college football player’s union, where players can organize and negotiate with each conference.
Though at least two teams have tried to unionize over the past 15 years, none have been successful. The CFBPA’s effort at Stanford could mark a historic milestone in college football.
