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.

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 Dartmouth men's basketball team dropped its attempt to form a union on Tuesday, voluntarily ending a push to become the first college sports team to unionize in order to avoid a potentially damaging precedent from a National Labor Relations Board that soon will be controlled by Republicans.

The Dartmouth players petitioned the NLRB in 2023 to be allowed to unionize, saying the New Hampshire school exercised so much control over their schedules and working conditions

Dartmouth men's basketball players drop attempt to unionize in anticipation of labor board shifting to the right