--- description: Just as March Madness swings into high gear, John Oliver squared off against the NCAA on Sunday's Last Week Tonight. title: Watch John Oliver Get Mad About March Madness image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4add0f7fbf46ad73/698783a3cd1bba54996f5b06/john-oliver1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Watch John Oliver Get Mad About March Madness ## Video: March Madness Could Cost Employers Close To $2 Billion [Watch (HLS stream): March Madness Could Cost Employers Close To $2 Billion](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/IPiwt7AB.m3u8) (1:25)  _Published 2015-03-13. Employers could stand to lose nearly $2 billion worth of employee time thanks to this year's NCAA basketball tournament._ by [Melissa Locker](/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 16, 2015 12:05 PM CUT  HBO by [Melissa Locker](/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 16, 2015 12:05 PM CUT Just as March Madness swings into high gear, John Oliver squared off against the NCAA on Sunday’s _Last Week Toni_ _ght._ Oliver is troubled by the fact that the NCAA makes money hand over fist on the sweat of so-called student athletes thanks to sponsorships and TV deals and yet adamantly doesn’t pay them for their services. While the NCAA holds that student-athletes are amateurs who are compensated for their services with an education, Oliver argues that the athletes are employees of the colleges for which they play. Oliver points out how poorly some universities treat some of their athletes, the sub-par education that some student athletes receive, the fact some students are actually starving while playing for these teams, and caps it all off with a disturbing montage of coaches spewing epithets at their athletes, which would definitely disappoint [Coach Taylor](http://time.com/3735985/kyle-chandler-netflix-bloodline-friday-night-lights/ "undefined"). All that and less than 2% of NCAA players go on to lucrative careers with professional sports teams. Luckily Oliver has a suggestion that can help the NCAA earn more money: an ultra-realistic video game that shows what it’s really like to play ball in the NCAA. Watch the full clip below: _Read next:_ [_6 Ways to Win Your March Madness Office Pool_](http://time.com/money/3738760/march-madness-win-office-pool/?iid=time%5Freadnext "undefined") [_Listen to the most important stories of the day._](http://time.com/newsletter/the-brief/?sl%5Fautoplay=true&xid=spl-fullbrief-article "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3745453/march-madness-john-oliver-ncaa-tournament/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3745453/march-madness-john-oliver-ncaa-tournament/"},"headline":"Watch John Oliver Get Mad About March Madness","datePublished":"2015-03-16T12:05:30.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T08:16:38.442Z","description":"\"The only other people who say 'they're not employees' that much are people who run illegal sweatshops\"","url":"https://time.com/3745453/march-madness-john-oliver-ncaa-tournament/","keywords":["Sports topic","Television","HBO","NCAA","March Madness","John Oliver","Last Week Tonight"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4add0f7fbf46ad73/698783a3cd1bba54996f5b06/john-oliver1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4add0f7fbf46ad73/698783a3cd1bba54996f5b06/john-oliver1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"John Oliver NCAA","caption":"John Oliver NCAA","creditText":"HBO","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3745453/march-madness-john-oliver-ncaa-tournament/","name":"Watch John Oliver Get Mad About March Madness"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Know Right Now: March Madness 2015","description":"Take a look at the teams who could go all the way to the big dance this year.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/KAqajX9Y/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-03-18T17:43:51.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/KAqajX9Y.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3745453/march-madness-john-oliver-ncaa-tournament/","duration":"PT1M1S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3745453/march-madness-john-oliver-ncaa-tournament/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"March Madness Could Cost Employers Close To $2 Billion","description":"Employers could stand to lose nearly $2 billion worth of employee time thanks to this year's NCAA basketball tournament.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/IPiwt7AB/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-03-13T16:28:35.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/IPiwt7AB.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3745453/march-madness-john-oliver-ncaa-tournament/","duration":"PT1M25S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3745453/march-madness-john-oliver-ncaa-tournament/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```