Notre Dame threatens to make drastic changes if athletes are ruled as employees

Published May. 21, 2015 11:30 a.m. ET

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On Tuesday, Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick announced that if college athletes are eventually ruled to be employees of their respective universities, Notre Dame is prepared withdraw from the big-time sports landscape.

"Notre Dame's just not prepared to participate in any model where the athlete isn't a student first and foremost — that's the hallmark for us," Swarbrick told USA TODAY Sports after a Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics meeting. "If the entire model were to move toward athletes as employees, we'd head in a different direction. Our president has been clear about that. I'm not articulating a unique position."

The comments come in wake of the Ed O’Bannon anti-trust lawsuit, which has sent universities scrambling to figure out ways to deal with the potential possibility of having to pay their athletes as employees.

(h/t USA TODAY)