Moving toward paying student-athletes?

A group of former student-athletes has sued the NCAA for its share in the revenue generated by big-time athletics through the licensing of broadcast rights and video games.  They want the suit to be treated as a class action.  If they are successful in doing so, this will be a step in stopping the colleges from treating the athletes as slaves.

The NY Times has reviewed a series of NCAA e-mails which show that the organization has been very worried about this issue for a long time.  Yet it issues such public statements as:

“With regard to the student-athlete, I think the focus on exploitation may be misplaced, and maybe it is not our duty to protect the student-athlete,” David Berst, a senior N.C.A.A. executive.

“The N.C.A.A. is not exploiting current or former student-athletes but instead provides enormous benefit to them and to the public,” Donald Remy, the N.C.A.A.’s chief legal officer.