One of the biggest issues in college sports these days is about whether or not the NCAA should pay players — specifically those in revenue-generating sports like football and men’s basketball.

The NCAA, and president Mark Emmert, have held out so far, though an Olympic-style model, where athletes can make money off their likeness, could be discussed in the future.

On Saturday, Emmert discussed why the NCAA can’t pay athletes, and you can decide for yourself if you buy what he’s saying:

“If you are going to pay salaries to male athletes you’d have to do the same thing for female athletes,” Emmert said. “The other issue is that if you were going to do a model where you were just going to pay football and basketball athletes, the way athletic departments are going to do that is they’re going to eliminate other sports.”

Those are fair points, sure, but the NCAA shouldn’t get in the business of telling schools what to do with their money. If universities want to pay their players, they should be able to do so as they see fit.

This is a complex issue, and it’s one that is certainly going to continue to be debated. A potential solution is probably still a few years down the road, but it’s important to keep the debate in the forefront.