Emmert says paying players could be like turning college sports in a minor league system.

 As predicted, NCAA president Dr. Mark Emmert defended his orgnization’s current stance against paying student-athletes during his appearance at the O’Bannon vs. the NCAA anti-trust lawsuit at a Federal courthouse in Oakland, Calif.

  Emmert said student-athletes currently play for the love of the game and that changing that model would turn college sports into nothing more than a minor league for professonal sports. Many schools, he said, wouild simply leave Division I sports, abandon them all together or refuse to play schools that pay their players. “They want to know everyone is playing by the same rules,” he testified. “They want to know the other teams consist of student-athletes just like them.”

    Emmert faced friendly questions posed by NCAA attorneys. But cross examination by the plantiffs has yet to start. Stay tuned for the fireworks as plaintiffs push for student athletes to get a piece of the financial pie for the use of their names, images and likeness on TV.