$10.8 billion. That's how much the NCCA received from CBS and Turner Sports for fourteen years of broadcast rights to March Madness, the collegiate men's basketball tournament. However, despite the enormous size of this cash cow, actual basketball players in the tournament don't see any of this money. That might change soon after sports labor attorney Jeffery Kessler and a group of former college athletes filled class action lawsuit last week against the NCAA, arguing that athlete compensation has been illegally capped at the value of a year-long scholarship. Speaking with Jonathan Capehart on MSNBC's Melissa Harris-Perry, Nation sports editor Dave Zirin praised the lawsuit. "This is the first time in six decades of settled law that we could see the NCAA's system of indentured servitude meaningfully challenged." By challenging the use of the term "student-athlete," Zirin claims that the lawsuit has the potential to "crack the cartel" of the NCAA.
—Dustin Christensen