Dartmouth players may have been hesitant to continue pushing forward and set a precedent under a Trump-controlled NLRB unfriendly to unionization efforts.

The Dartmouth men’s basketball team on Tuesday dropped its attempt to unionize, abruptly ending a push to become the first college athletes to bargain for a contract in order to avoid a potentially damaging precedent from a National Labor Relations Board that soon will be controlled by Republicans.

A union on Tuesday moved to withdraw its novel bid to represent the Dartmouth College men's basketball team, a move likely calculated to avoid unfavorable rulings by President-elect Donald Trump's appointees to the National Labor Relations Board.

Dartmouth College’s men’s basketball team is halting efforts to unionize, withdrawing an effort before a labor board with appointees named by President-elect Trump might consider it. “While our

The decision may be connected to the incoming Trump administration, which is unlikely to back the athletes’ union petition, one attorney wrote.

The union representing the Dartmouth men's basketball team filed a request to withdraw the NLRB petition rather than take its chances with an unfriendly labor board likely to take over in the new presidential administration.

The decision to withdraw the petition appeared to be an effort to preserve a favorable federal ruling that could have been in jeopardy under President-elect Donald J. Trump.

The timing — the final hours of 2024 — was fitting in that the decision reflects what may lie ahead for the college sports labor movement.

The move is being made in order to avoid potential legal and political risks in anticipation of personnel changes within the NRLB with a new U.S. President.