NCAA president Mark Emmert took another opportunity to publicly reaffirm his sturdy position on not allowing student-athletes to receive any kind of income.

Speaking at the IMG Intercollegiate Athletics Forum in Manhattan, ESPN reported, Emmert said his talks with various college presidents have centered on this position. Despite a public perception that college athletes should get a piece of the billions of dollars they help bring in, the NCAA will not alter its amateur policy.

"There's certainly no interest in turning college sports into the professional or semi-professional," Emmert said.

The NCAA head expressed distaste for the NBA's rule forcing basketball prospects to spend at least one year in college before being eligible for the professional draft. He said the rule actually hurts college basketball's marketability rather than helping it.

"It's illogical to force someone to go to college when they want to do something else," Emmert said.

"When LeBron went [to the NBA], we still had a Final Four and it was pretty good and people showed up and we had good numbers," he said. "And nobody said college basketball sucked because Kobe went."

"Pay-for-play" is a common moniker for the model that would financially compensate student-athletes. It has risen to prominence as Ed O'Bannon's lawsuit with the NCAA continues on.

O'Bannon, a former basketball player for UCLA, is suing the NCAA for using his name and likeness without compensating him. The suit originally included EA Sports and Collegiate Licensing Company, but the two settled out it, but the NCAA has stated they will stay and fight. O'Bannon said he saw a video game rendering of himself in a recent college basketball game and was not so much as informed.

"The case was originally about previous student-athletes and it completely shifted to current student-athletes," Emmert said. "It was about issues of trademark and right of publicity and it is now blatantly about pay-for-play."

The pay-for-play model generally only applies to men's college basketball and football, as those two draw billions of dollars in TV contracts, bowl games, merchandise and more.

There are other alternatives to student-athletes receiving a paycheck and Emmert said he is open to some. For example, in Sept., he said "big change" will be coming to NCAA Division I sports, but was vague on details. In his address, Emmert said the NCAA is considering a provision that would allow more freedom for college athletes to market themselves before they turn pro. Still, actions like selling their autographs will be off-limits.

"I think the key issue for the members is, how would you have such a model that doesn't become a recruiting debate?" Emmert said.

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