A federal agency’s ruling last week, that football players at Northwestern University can create the nation’s first union of college athletes, sent shock waves throughout the realm of college sports.

The decision by a regional director of the National Labor Relations Board answered the question at the heart of the debate: Football players who receive full scholarships to the Big Ten school are considered employees under federal law, and thereby are allowed to unionize.

The ruling could have major consequences for the National Collegiate Athletic Association and NCAA member institutions, whose athletic programs make billions of dollars. Most of the commentary has focused on the fate and future of the college sports empire the NCAA commands.

But what about the future of unions?

The prospect of elite college athletes joining the ranks of industrial stiffs, coal miners and longshoremen is a little difficult to imagine. And in fact, manual labor has not been the face of American unionization for several decades.

According to the federal Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, 11.3 percent — 14.5 million — of America’s 129.1 million employed workers are union members.

Of those 14.5 million union members, nearly half — 7.2 million — are federal, state and local government employees; 5.7 million are in management, professional and related occupations such as health care and education.

The number of union hardhats has been dwindling for decades. Maybe football helmets will replace some of those hardhats.

Regardless, the unionization push at Northwestern could be a compelling spectator sport. A players union could help expose the raw dollars the athletes help generate, as well as how the school spends those dollars; the players will be pressed to weigh the value of their academic full ride — as well as their responsibility to pursue their studies and maintain a minimum standard of conduct; they are, after all, employees and representatives of the school, according to the NLRB ruling.

If the players succeed in their quest to organize, they should keep in mind one overriding objective: an enhanced level of accountability and transparency between the school and its student-athletes could be a good thing. They should perceive their NLRB victory as an opportunity to raise not only their standard of living, but their standard of performance — in the classroom, on campus and on the football field.