College Athletes Tell NCAA They Want a Piece of the Action

More than 300 major college football and men's basketball players are telling the NCAA and college presidents they want a cut of the  ever-increasing TV sports revenue they are earning for their schools.

That faint sound you hear is the wind of change whistling through the halls of ivy from coast to coast.

College athletes from Arizona, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Purdue and UCLA have signed a petition asking the NCAA and their schools to share some of the money they're making from TV deals with football and men's basketball players.

The players want to be able to tap those funds to cover educational costs if they exhaust their athletic eligibility before they graduate.  And they could get what's left of the money allocated to them when they graduate -- a step some say would amount to professionalizing college sports.

Purdue Quarterback Rob Henry signed the petition, saying it's a matter of simple fairness. "Without the athletes, there are no Division I sports. There are no TV contracts, there are no coaches' contracts. Athletes should be the number one priority."

There's been no response from the NCAA, but the NCAA has always been fiercely opposed to paying athletes.

via College athletes press NCAA reform - NCAA Football - Sporting News.

College athletics have been described as America's last "plantation."  Colleges and coaches make millions of dollars from sports that are played by athletes who are forbidden to be paid for their skills.