Watch John Oliver Explain Why the NCAA Should Stop Exploiting Student Athletes and Pay Up


The National Collegiate Athletic Association reaps in nearly $1 billion a year in revenue, thanks to an annual onslaught of glitzy advertising campaigns and television deals. Coaches and top executives are paid in the millions, but student athletes return to their dorm rooms with nothing but an education for compensation, “the only currency more difficult to spent than Bitcoin,” John Oliver noted last night.

With the start of March Madness on Tuesday, “Last Week Tonight” takes on this very issue, slamming the “illegal sweatshop” nature of the NCAA’s non-pay scale. “There is nothing inherently wrong with a sporting tournament making huge amounts of money,” Oliver said. “But there is something slightly troubling about a billion-dollar sports enterprise where the athletes are not paid a penny, because they aren’t.”

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In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

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