Jeffrey Kessler Discusses Paying College Athletes with Sports Business Journal 

Winston & Strawn partner Jeffrey Kessler was quoted in the Sports Business Journal article, “A Pay-For-Play Model,” published December 2, 2013.

The article addresses the debate over whether to pay college athletes, and Mr. Kessler says a change is coming. Winston & Strawn recently launched a practice group focused on college sports as college athletes begin to fight back legally against the NCAA.

“There is so much of a difference in how people now perceive the reality that the top level of college sport, in fact, is a business. We think change is going to come,” Mr. Kessler said. “You want to find a new paradigm that works for everyone.”

Twenty-one years ago, when Mr. Kessler argued the case that brought free agency to the NFL, the league claimed that free agency would bring down pro sports.

“I think 20 years from now there will be a generation involved in college sports who will not say the old system is the only thing that could exist,” Mr. Kessler said, drawing a parallel between the two issues. “Clearly, something else is going to exist. The question is will it be a good thing or a bad thing. But it’s going to be a different thing.”