michael mccann is director of the university of new hampshire's "sports and entertainment law institute," and legal analyst for "sports illustrated" magazine. he joins us now. the key thing here mr. mccann is the finding these athletes qualify as employees, not just students. explain that and why it's so important. >> sure. it's important because by being declared employees, the student athletes would be able to then unionize and enter into collective bargaining with northwestern university and try to command salary benefits but, more than that, also, better healthcare benefits, disability payments, workers' comp. the typical benefits that go along with the status of employment which they currently do not get as student athletes. >> brown: give us a little background on this particular case, the students at northwestern, how they came to bring this case and what they were saying they wanted. >> sure, so the students are led by quarterback, king colter, who several months ago decided to pursue the ability of he and others collectively bargaining with northwestern, but to get to that step