Jim Brown is among the many that want to see the NCAA make a change, but he let his true feelings show Saturday.
Speaking with Pro Football Hall of Fame Fan Fest host Larry King and fellow guests Barry Sanders and Harry Carson. A former NFL running back, Brown took a question from a fan asking why a student-athlete could sustain a career-ending injury and not be compensated for loss of future earnings.
"The NCAA is probably the most reprehensible organization God ever created," the Hall of Fame running back said at the event, according to ESPN. "Total exploitation. The kind of money they make, the kind of life they live, it's embarrassing."
When the NCAA is "doing things for the young people," Brown said, is when the college sports governing body is most pompous. Brown later stood by his comments, ESPN reported.
"I wanted to say it as harsh as I could, because I want them to come at me in any way they want to," Brown said. "Because it's a shame the way that it happens."
The NCAA is facing two lawsuits and a movement to unionize, but refuses to do so except for on its own terms. The NCAA wants to grant the five "power conferences" more autonomy in decisions like allowing schools to pay its players more than the cost of attendance.
Football players at Northwestern University conducted a silent vote to determine whether or not to form union for students under scholarship. Due to an appeal from the school, the National Labor Relations Board must seal the results until the ruling is finalized.
The NCAA is bound to be forced one way or another, something Brown would welcome.
"I'm totally for change and total change," he said. "And I think that body needs to be torn apart and put back together with everybody's best interests in mind."
