Oakland , California ( CNN ) -- If college athletes were to start being paid , many schools would leave Division I sports , NCAA President Mark Emmert said Thursday . And the universities that stayed in Division I sports would have to start cutting other , less popular sports to be able to afford the salaries . There would be less competition and no more national championship games — at least not in their current form , Emmert said . Emmert testified at the landmark federal trial for former UCLA player Ed O'Bannon 's lawsuit against the National Collegiate Athletic Association . He and other athletes are suing for the opportunity for future athletes to be paid for the use of their names , images and likenesses when they play sports on television . Emmert said he believes the customs that most college sports fans hold most dear -- the camaraderie of game day , the tailgating , the atmosphere of a stadium packed with nearly 100,000 fans and the pride of cheering for a university team -- are at stake . `` Traditions and keeping them are very important to universities , '' Emmert said . `` These individuals are not professionals . They are representing their universities as part of a university community . `` People come to watch ... because it 's college sports , with college athletes , '' he said . Those beloved traditions go hand in hand with the model of amateurism , and if amateurism goes away , so will the games as we know them now , he said . Many schools lose money on Division I athletics but keep them for the `` social cohesion '' and the boost to their profiles , Emmert said . Emmert said officials at several member schools have told him that if athletes were to start getting paid beyond the cost of attendance , institutions would ditch Division I sports and opt for Division II or III , in which coach 's salaries , stadiums , hype and scholarships are much smaller . `` Do the members want the sports to remain amateur ? '' an NCAA lawyer asked . `` Yes , '' Emmert replied . `` If the rules were changed to permit student athletes to be paid for ( names , images and likenesses ) , would that change what college sports is all about ? `` Yes , it would . '' Never before has the NCAA membership — leaders at about 1,100 colleges and universities — proposed changing the rules to allow college athletes to be paid . However , they are currently considering giving athletes a bit more `` miscellaneous '' money to cover the full cost of attending college . Emmert , a much-anticipated witness at the three-week trial , testified for five hours Thursday and is expected to continue on Friday . On the stand , Emmert embodied the NCAA 's no-budge , no-compromise take on the issue of pay-for-play , citing the organization 's century-old history . In the five years since the O'Bannon suit was first filed , there have been several controversies and many attempts to reform the NCAA . Emmert acknowledged that public opinion of the organization is low and that part of his directive when he took this job was to fix that . While he made no concessions to the argument of hypocrisy in college sports — the idea that everyone else involved makes money , except the athletes — Emmert did concede that the commercialization of college sports is overwhelming the amateurism . He said the use of athletes ' names , images and likenesses is `` one of the most debated topics in NCAA history . '' One of O'Bannon 's lawyers , Bill Isaacson , displayed picture after picture of athletes with corporate logos and asked , `` Putting athletes in front of logos , that 's all fine under NCAA rules ? '' `` It 's not something I 'm personally comfortable with , '' Emmert responded . `` ... It 's certainly not where I would prefer the rules be drawn . '' Responding to questions from U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken about commercial exploitation , Emmert said the schools have chosen to define it to mean that college athletes should not be acting as `` pitchmen '' for products . A recent poll conducted by the Saint Leo University Polling Institute showed that 66 % of Americans do n't think athletes should be paid beyond scholarship money . But complicating the issue are recent academic scandals and consistent court testimony from athletes from several different schools that they were athletes first , not students . Emmert responded by saying that it 's hard to get motivated athletes to focus more on schoolwork , but he insisted that they are motivated to play college sports because of the education they receive . But when he was asked about that education , he first mentioned the life experience that athletes earn on the field , then discussed what they learn in class . O'Bannon 's lawyers questioned Emmert at length about an e-mail sent to him at the start of his presidency by a senior member of the organization , Wallace Renfro . It said `` the notion that athletes are students is the great hypocrisy of intercollegiate athletics '' and said the public believes the athletes are exploited in the name of money for higher-caliber coaches and bigger stadiums . Last week , O'Bannon 's lawyers said that even if Wilken were to rule in their favor , the conferences and colleges could still decide on their own not to share any of the television revenues with athletes . As long as the NCAA does n't have a rule against it , it would still be OK for colleges to choose not to pay . Rules , Emmert testified , are necessary . `` It 's essential there be a body that provides rule-making , '' he said . `` One of the most fundamental principles of fair competition is that everyone is playing by the same rules . Everyone understands they are governing and conducting the game the same way from one side of the country to another . You could n't do it nationally without those rules . '' As testimony starts in former college star 's suit , NCAA settles another suit . NCAA faces change , legal challenges in months ahead .
NCAA President Mark Emmert said paying athletes would hurt traditions . National championships , camaraderie as we know them would end , he testified . `` People come to watch ... because it 's college sports , '' he said in federal court . Ex-UCLA player Ed O'Bannon sued to allow athletes to be paid for images , likenesses .