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.

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 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 that they met the legal definition of employees. A regional official agreed ...