A commonly debated topic is making headlines one more after four college athletes filed a class-action suit against the National Athletic Association (NCAA) on Monday, 17 March 2014.
The four players which include, Clemson University football player Martin Jenkins, University of California football player Bill Tyndall, Rutgers University basketball J.J. Moore and University of Texas-El Paso football player Kevin Perry, will be represented by Attorney Jeff Kessler, who also engaged in the legal proceedings of Tom Brady’s case against the National Football League (NFL), which resulted in the NFL lockout in 2011.
Because of the billions of dollars in revenue that sport programs and athletes bring to their Universities annually, these four players are seeking compensation. According to current NCAA rules, universities are only allowed to reward their athletes by paying for their housing, books, tuition and items of this sort.
The suit filed in Trenton, N. J., federal court, proposes representation of all Division I basketball players and Football Subdivision players, and is also supported by the National College Players Association.
The lawsuit has no intention of removing player’s scholarships or to guarantee salaries to college players, but aims to gives the option of payment and eliminate the past NCAA rule.
Although the NCAA stands by their regulation that the players should only be paid in form of school-related compensation, the lawsuit argues that many players do not graduate or excel to a professional or semi-professional league.