Over 100 women’s college basketball players team up in unionization effort

Maryland guard Oluchi Okananwa handles the ball during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against UCLA, Jan. 18, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jayne Kamin-Oncea, File) By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Updated 11:45 PM MESZ, July 31, 2026 Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit More than 100 women’s college basketball players have teamed up to form a union for college athletes as part of their growing push to collectively bargain with their schools, an organizing group announced Friday. The United College Athletes Association said as part of the push, members of the Oregon State women’s team filed a petition with state regulators, marking a formal effort to seek collective bargaining rights under state law. The announcement comes two years after a group of women’s basketball players co-signed letters to Southeastern and Big Ten Conference leaders in 2024, requesting a formal collaboration process on issues affecting college athletics. Since those efforts were denied, more than 100 female athletes have signed union authorization cards with the UCAA, agreeing to representation in collective bargaining. The announcement comes a few days after the College Football Players Association revealed that Stanford has become the first football team to organize a player-led chapter — another effort by college athletes to unionize. The UCAA says its mission is to represent and protect athletes through collective bargaining, ensuring that college sports are safe, fair, sustainable and that athletes have a say in decision-making. “As interim president of the UCAA, I’m proud to help lead a movement that gives college athletes a real voice in the decisions that shape our lives and careers,” University of Maryland basketball player Oluchi Okananwa said in a statement. NCAA leaders have long opposed the idea of players becoming employees of their schools, though the idea isn’t universally opposed by college leaders. Tennessee athletic director Danny White has been among those who have said collective bargaining is the only real solution to the problems that confront schools that are now paying millions to their players. Attempts to create unions for college athletes at Dartmouth and Southern California stalled in 2024 due to the changing landscape in college sports and the then-incoming Trump administration’s new National Labor Relations Board, which wasn’t expected to approve the moves. ▶ View and download the women’s NCAA tournament bracket