Dick Vitale Advocates Paying College Basketball Players

Legendary ESPN broadcaster Dick Vitale says paying college basketball players would help clean up the sport, which is embroiled in a wide-ranging corruption scandal.

Vitale spoke to TMZ Sports on Friday about the troublesome situation.

"[The NCAA is] making zillions of dollars. Why not allow it?" Vitale said, adding: "Let them get paid. I really believe that in my heart, because this has gotten totally out of control right now."

Pat Forde and Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports released a bombshell report earlier Friday that showed many of the nation's top basketball programs, including Duke, North Carolina, Texas, Kentucky and Michigan State, have been linked to a federal investigation surrounding potential impermissible benefits.

The information is based on records from the ASM Sports agency, which kept detailed "expense reports and balance sheets" about money paid and loaned to college basketball players through the end of 2015.

"It broke my heart," Vitale told TMZ Sports of the report, adding, "It's a blow."

In September, Shachar Peled of CNN reported 10 people, including assistant coaches Chuck Person (Auburn), Lamont Evans (Oklahoma State), Tony Bland (USC) and Emanuel Richardson (Arizona), were arrested by the FBI for their roles in what acting U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim called the "dark underbelly of college basketball."

"All of those charged today contributed to a pay-to-play culture that has no business in college basketball," FBI New York division assistant director Bill Sweeney said at the time.

Meanwhile, NCAA president Mark Emmert released a statement Friday saying the allegations will showcase "systematic failures" if proved true and that he's working with the NCAA Board of Governors to make "transformational changes."