Real March Madness is Not Paying NCAA Players Says Nocera

Billions of dollars in revenue ranging from television commercials to sneaker contracts to office pool jackpots will be on the line this week when the 68 top men's college basketball teams square off in the NCAA tournament. Too bad the players generating all those dollars won't see a dime of it, said Joe Nocera, author of Indentured. 'The players are fundamentally exploited,' said Nocera. 'Everybody else is getting rich in this $13 billion industry, except what I like to call the 'labor force' aka the players.'

So should the players get paid? Nocera thinks so. The NCAA, however, sticks to its belief that paying players would ruin college sports as we know it. 'I don't think people really care whether players get paid or not, I think they care if the athlete is enrolled in the university,' said Nocera. 'If you started paying players would people stop going to games? I don't think they would.'