A memo from a National Labor Relations Board attorney puts college athletes one step closer to controlling their own business opportunities and jeopardizes the way the NCAA manages college athletics, the Associated Press reports.

“The freedom to engage in far-reaching and lucrative business enterprises makes players at academic institutions much more similar to professional athletes who are employed by a team to play a sport,” NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo wrote.

The status of college athletes has been questioned increasingly lately as overarching NCAA rules governing the ability of the athletes to leverage their fame and talents to earn money independent of their school affiliation are challenged.  This NLRB opinion will impact only athletes at private colleges; state schools are governed by state and federal laws, and therefore will require legislation by either state governments or Congress.

Abruzzo’s memo is one step closer to allowing college athletes to form unions and to seek income from outside sources.  It also bans the use of the term “student-athlete” because, it opines, the phrase attempts to diminish the actual relationship between the athlete and the university.

The NCAA, which oversees 450,000 college athletes in scores of different sports, has been challenging decisions that grant athletes more autonomy over the use of their names and images to protect its revenue from things like jersey sales and video game representations.

“College athletes are students who compete against other students, not employees who compete against other employees,” said the NCAA in a statement. “Like other students on a college or university campus who receive scholarships, those who participate in college sports are students. Both academics and athletics are part of a total educational experience that is unique to the United States and vital to the holistic development of all who participate.”