and as it comes up to the cold air held in place by high pressure, snow developing. >> thank you for watching aljazeera america. i'm del walters in new york, and "inside story" is next. colleges sport flashy coaches earn seven figure salaries. now they want a union and a paycheck, it's the inside story. hello, i'm ray swarez. let's say you have worked

hard in a determined middle -- at an ncaa division one school. you are the cream of the competitive crop. your school dips into the hundreds of millions of dollars paid for television rights, build as state of the art facility, where fans by the thousands pay to watch you play. merge guise with the team logo sells across your region, and if the team is good enough, across the country. your coached by a man who makes millions of dollars, in fact, is paid more than the president of the university, the governor, in most cases more than any public employee in your whole state. along the way -- achy knees, shoulder separations. you do get a scholarship worth as much as $50,000 a year, but you may or may not get a degree. it turns out you, tight end, power forward, point guard, are making a lot

of money for a lot of people, making money according to the strict rules for everyone but yourself. that's the inside story. >> 8 million americans are tuning in the ncaa basketball tournament this month. on the hardwood, athleticism, and school spirit. racket bids and money mix, the embodiment of march madness. the annual showcase of the country's top college basketball teams generate as lot of emotion among loyal fans and millions of dollars for schools and t.v. networks alike. through the year, 2024, the tournament will air on cbs, and turner broadcasting networks the 14 year contract with the 10.8 being dollars price tasker funnels $740 million annually to 68 ncaa member colleges. estimates suggest the college sports industry generates on average, $11 billion in revenue annually. this is distributed in

part to ncaa executives threatism directors and coaches in the forms of salaries. head coaches at 44 schools in the ncaa football champion bowl games make an average of 2 million-dollars in salaries. public university head football and basketball coaches are the highest paid public employees. with all the money involved in big time college sports, there's a growing debate about whether the players should continue to go without. ncaa rules prevent colleges from paying athletes outside of athletic scholarships, which include only tuition, books and housing. the ncaa has long defending it's student athlete model. >> one thing that i think the fundamental tone is that there's very few members and virtually no university presidents were well, none i have ever heard of that think it is a good idea to convert student cleats

and to paid employees into literally and professionals. decided to unionize and on wednesday the national labor relations board cleared the way for that union vote. the regional director noted in the ruling that the players qualified because of the time commitment and is the fact that there's scholarship are tied directly to their performance on the field. northwestern will say will appear to the full game. >> got another high profile joke this month. from antitrust attorney jeffery kesler. >> his suit seeks to up end the ncaa limits on scholarship money the student athletes receive ised winning the suit

that pave the way for players to be paid. >> and five of the power house college conferences. mr. kesler, welcome to inside story. athletes have been playing for colleges and universities for over a century in the united states. where does antitrust law come in. >> well, the laws will comply waythe modern reality. and while it might have been true. that 100 years ago. there was no big business in college sports. anybody who watches the ncaa tournament this week. or anybody who watches big time college football knows that these have become gigantic

businesses in which the only people who receive no financial benefit are the athletes who generate these revenues. >> but if you are playing for a division i team, certainly, haven't you accepted an implicit bargain. that you are going to be a kind of apprentice that you are going to play for a college, get an education, and then take your career from there. >> well, that bargain is not a voluntary bargain. they talk about getting an education in return, but a large number of them never even graduate from the schools.

to ski what the market can produce for them. >> minus is salary. >> what i am saying is these are professional businesses. anybody -- who looks at the big time college football cable channels. that are in the pure business selling rights. can't help but conclude that this is a big business, and yes, the only people who aren't treated is the free workers who create this value. who are prohibited from getting paid. >> how would the system change if you were to prevail, would players in effect be free to sell their skims. to schools? >> well, they do that now. except they can't get

paid anything for it, right now the schools compete for the best athletes. and the best athletes get attracted to usually the school with the most resources. the difference is these restrictions prohibit the schools from morphing them anything else, what we want to do is is strike down those restrictions which will not be tolerated in any other big business in this country. and we focus solely on division one men's basketball and football because those are where the sports where the revenues are generated. >> so if the changes you contemplate were to happen. would universities not for profit corporations in just about every case, public property in many cases, become kind of like professional franchise owners.

>> as many nfl teams. which has it's own long horn cable television network. which has expensive sponsorships for that. yes, the university of texas owns a professional business called the texas football front. and the only people who are prohibited from getting any benefit out of this are the athletes. >> so, in effect, basketball and college football have consented to be the minor leagues. could you imagine a day in the future when players could play for

the florida seminoles, or the northwestern wild with cats and not even be students in those schools. >> that's up to the schools. no one is seeking to force the schools to do anything. if the schools don't want to pay the athletes, they don't have to. if the schools want these students they can make everything a student. that we are saying is there shouldn't be rules to stop the schools from making their own choices. and then the players will trust a competitive marketplace. to decide what is the right answer. >> do you have player input on your lawsuit, sir is. mrs. an attempt to organize a players union for college athletes. have they had -- their say on whether they stand. >>

very much sup is sporting this lawsuit. and we have very much sensitive to making this lawsuit about what the players want. that's exactly what we are trying to do here. s create a system, that will help players, that will help the game, that will ultimately help the school, and the fans as well. >> do you realize as you embark on this, that your kicking a hornets nest. i think more than even in the case of beloved professional franchises, there's an emotional link with college teams that i find sometimes hard to explain. >> well, when we started out in my background goes back, to representing the players in the nfl, and is the nba, and other sports. when you go back to the beginning of my career, where there is no free agency, in any of these sports. and no free agency is in baseball either. the owners said the same

thing. they said if you give athletes rights, it will destroy the sport, lit destroy the business. it will turn off fans. what we have seen is created a fair system makes it a better sport a more attractive product, for everyone. we have no reason to believe that's not exactly what with would happen here. yes, it is a hornets nest, but it is one out of the ncaa's imagination. and we think when we free this up will there be honey for everybody here. >> jeffery joins froes new york, when we come back, with eare going to continue our conversation, on whether playing big time school sports is a job, and whether college athletes should be payed to do it, it is inside story.

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looking at the debt bait over college athletics. will top level schools be transformed by the new player to demand money for the work they do. there are more than 300 division one schools to the northwestern football players have the potential to force them to reign in some of the excesses of big school sports. and less like the miner leagues. did not respond to our request to appear on the program, the five major conferences also declined our invitation. but we were not shut out. joining us now from atlanta, barrett, sec lead writer for the bleacher report, from smith college in north hamilton massachusets professor andrew, an economist who specialists in the business of sports and from jacksonville florida, kristy dosh. sports business reporter and attorney, and kristy,

let me start with you. you heard jeffery ask me what's the difference between an nfl franchise owner, and the university of texas that owns the long horns. what is the difference. >> it is tough to compare college athletics to professional athletics because it is not the same. they are a for profit corporation, a university, they are nonprofit, and those sports that do generate revenue, they are subsidizing a number of other sports that do not generate revenue. so when i heard his comments about how free agency didn't tear apart major league baseball, or the nfl, and that's true, it would have a very different impact on college athletics are you are sup is porting the sports that don't produce revenue. >> andrew, what do you make of that question? what's the difference? and the university of texas and the long horns.

there's not a problem with the analogy. and that problem is that college sports exists in a cacoon. they have tack privileges they have subsidies from the university. they have state subsidies. if you take away the branding of college sports. and they lose those, there's a question about how the finances hold up, and also a question about how fans respond. maybe all of a sudden ifs then't branded as amateur athletics maybe they treat them like they do minor league baseball. and instead of 60,000 people showing up, you get ten or 15,000 showing up, and is the enterprise itself is transformed. >> barrett, the enterprise itself is transformed. hasn't the money in some ways become the tail that wags the dog? >> absolutely.

obviously with the sec network, the money being generate bid the attention that college athletics in particular college football and basketball create, is huge. the landscape now is completely different than it was 15 years ago. ten years from now, it is going to look entirely different probably with even more money being poured in. i think in the mid to late 90's it really sort of clicked that this is big business, and the ncaa instead of sort of evolving with that, dug in its heels and now finds itself in a really tough spot, because it isn't going to win public opinion, and probably not win any lawsuits either. there are lines out the door from modern houses of scouts and choices ready. that's just the beginning

of the chain of events that leads to 100,000 seat stadiums and billion dollars contracts, isn't it. >> i think we are really talking about football and men's basketball. but there are 15 to 20 sports that are sponsored by a typical division one school. it's really a shame that what we are seeing is kids are being recruited who very often don't have very much more nan a primary school reading. and they put them in curriculum -- . >>

getting -- is able basketball and yoga, and it's -- not something -- even though jeff alluded to the fact that many of these kids don't graduate, many of the kids that do, don't graduate with a substantial education. and the vast overwhelm majority don't go on to the pros. and so then -- they are left with very small and very inferior job opportunities. this is part of the bargain that they are given. two bargain is we will give you top quality education, you give us your basketball skills and is the universities generally speak willing not fulfilling their part of the bargain. mens basketball from what it means to be a college student in the country.

as a matter of fact, i think something was already filed today in the case, which is about the use of players like this. talking about the nlrb case. trying to prothem that case forward. the courts don't have to follow anything and even this issue could end up in federal courts down the road. so i am not sure that it is that persuasive of a decision at this point in the game. but certainly gives this players momentum, and you have to wonder does the ncaa finally cave and question side to give in on some of these demands to keep the unionization and the lawsuits from moving forward. we are going to take a short break, and when we come back, we will talk about the efforts to unionize, and the players asking for rights that they don't currently enjoy, if they play for

an ncaa member school. you are watching inside story.

welcome back to inside stories. s of americans will be glued to the ncaa mensches college basketball tournament. the teams that make the final four will generate 9.5 million dollars for their respective conferences. we are dribbling into the debate about whether the players should get more than a school scholarship if their efforts. the decision made fascinating reading. because it detailed in such a devastated way what the life of a top level football athlete is like.

>> of a football program. you know they have to go into training they have to study film. have to travel during the week, if you are a basketball player, for midweek games. so i think in terms of accused call hours put in. they are basically their time is stretched basically to it's max. >> professor, is there some way to make both of those roles work? in the nlrb, decision, they were talking about 50 to 60 hours a week. spent in football related activities.

>> i had trouble finishing a b.a. and i wasn't playing football? >> there are students -- i agree with barrett there are football players and there are basketball players who are real students. but there are small minority from all of the evidence we have. even at the very best schools like the university, of north carolina, we have learned from march whitingham's material, that there are enormous numbers that are being admitted that don't have a high school reading level. important to keep in mind, is that there's a regional decision, now being appeared at the level of washington, northwestern couldn't decide even if washington upholds the preponderance, northwestern can decide not to recognize the union and appeal it, it would go to a seven circuit court of appeals it can then go to the supreme court, and then after all of that if everything says kay bargain that decision

only applies to the 20 private schools. in the football ball subdivision. out of 124 schools. so it's -- this is a long way from having a direct impact on the reform movement. but i do think that it has an indirect impact that is immediate. it creates shows like this, it causes people to think about it, and it puts more pressure on top of the suit, on top of jeff's suit, on top of several other things. more pressure to engage in serious reform. >> is there enough power on the athletes side of the table? to demand the right to finish school. if you blow out your knees to at least make sure you can leave school with a degree in accounting or something else that gets paid for because you came to school to be an athlete. >> you know, something i was surprised to learn when i was researching for a book about the business a couple of years ago, is not only

does the ncaa have a program where student athletes can apply to finish their degree, using funds from the ncaa whether they are out of elogy joint, or they have an injury, but a lot of individual schools have programs actually learned about it because i was at the university of louisville, at a football game, and they put a giant ad during the football game, saying they should know they had a degree completion program that can apply for. in quite a few have those programs. so i am not sure there's a shortage of opportunities out there. there may be students fleets here and there that weren't able to apply, there's a lot of opportunities that isn't being used right now. >> and do you fare you mentioned earlier. the sub sid isdy for women's sports. if either the unionization or the federal lawsuit prevail, is is this a threat.

it sort of depends on what comes pout of this, and what other model as do whether or not title nine comes into play, another thing i am concerned about is if we are talking about larger expenditures of money for athletic departments i don't know that it is just women's sports that suffer. i think it may be olympics in general. most of these schools carry more than 16 sports. some of them carry in the mid to high 20's. so when we with talk about the ncaa zoo schools being greedy, i am not sure i agree with that. but if they have to start cutting their budget, i think that's where they look. i don't think they are going to raise ticket prices and ask fans to. >> we barely scratched the surface but thank you all for being with me today. that brings us to the end of this edition of inside story, thank you for joining us, in washington, i'm ray

swarves. welcome to al jazeera america. i'm del walters. these are the stories we're following for you. the rescue appears to be returning to recovery in washington state. the president meeting with u.s. ally saudi arabia, iran and syria said to be at the top of the list, and the families of those missing on missing airline 370 making