More than 300 football and men's basketball players from
Arizona, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Purdue and UCLA want the NCAA and
college presidents to set aside a cut of TV sports revenue for
student-athletes to cover the cost of their education.
A petition signed by the players asks the NCAA to "realize its
mission to educate and protect us with integrity." The National
College Players Association, an athletes' advocacy group, provided
The Associated Press with copies of the document for release on
Monday. Players started sending the petition to the NCAA last week.
The issue of whether to pay college athletes has been getting
increased attention at a time when major college football programs
from Miami to Ohio State have endured scandals involving
impermissible benefits to players. At the same time, athletic
conferences have made lucrative, new television deals.
Before now, athletes themselves had not voiced their opinions in
such numbers.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)