Jimmy King, a member of Michigan basketball's famous "Fab Five" in the early 1990s, said the National Labor Relations Board's ruling that Northwestern football players qualify as employeeswas "a long time coming."
"I think it's a step in the right direction. Juwan and myself and the rest of the Fab Five members were always advocates of this type of movement. I think that it's been a long time coming and I think it's the right thing. We have to understand that college athletics is a big business," King said on HuffPost Live on Thursday.
King, who was joined by fellow "Fab Five" member Juwan Howard, also talked about "exploitative situations" that he and his teammates experienced while attending Michigan.
"Being a young college student and we're there for education. We got a quick education in marketing, consulting, but we didn't benefit from it," King said. "There are other things that are involved that the average fan doesn't see that a student athlete experience. So when you have these kids crying out about it being unfair, it always doesn't resonate with the general public because they don't see everything behind closed doors."
Watch the entire segment below.