NCAA- College Athletes Can Now Earn Money Thanks To California Governor Gavin Newsom
Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom paved the way for student athletes to hire agents and earn money from enforcement deals. Before this bill, student athletes received some perks, like being able to attend a University tuition free. Also housing and food, was normally provided for athletes that attended college on a sports scholarship.
Newsom justified this new law, by saying that colleges and Universities ”reap billions of dollars each year from their student athletes”. Newsom proudly exclaimed that California was the first state with such a law. He said now student athletes can earn a profit off of their name, likeness and abilities.
NBC was the first to report the news of the new law in California that had the support of LeBron James. The Senate of California passed the law with no opposition 39 to 0. The National Collegiate Athletic Association, (NCAA) voiced a lot of trepidation prior to the bill passing.
The NCAA Acknowledged That Changes Were Needed For Rules Regarding Student Athletes
NCAA released a statement regarding the new bill known officially as, SB206. The organization said, “As a membership organization the NCAA agrees changes were needed”. Changes to continue to support student-athletes, but improvement needs to be made through the NCAA’s rule-making process.
Unfortunately this new law is already creating confusion for future and current student athletes, coaches, administrations and campuses, not just in California. We will consider the next steps in California while our members move forward with ongoing efforts to make adjustments to the NCAA name, image, and likeness rules that are both realistic in modern society and tied to higher education.
As more states consider their own specific legislation related to this topic, it is clear that a patchwork of different laws from different states will make unattainable the goal of providing a fair and level playing field 1100 campuses and nearly half a million student-athletes nation wide.
Experts Believe New Bill May Be Most Difficult On Female Student Athletes
According to the NCAA currently athletes are not allowed to make any money from endorsements or from sponsors outside of the college. The money via fees the NCAA collects is distributed in a wide array of ways.
A large majority of the collected NCAA money goes directly into scholarship programs, that are distributed equally to male and female athletes. The NCAA has a program that tries to equally distribute money among colleges, and athletes, and allow the athletes to gain the attention they deserve.
The way the current rules stand now, is that the more viewers a team gets, the more NCAA money the team receives. If student-athletes can now make deals and receive all types of money, it will create a huge disparity between schools and teams.
There could be varying results due to this new law, say experts in college sports. The NCAA now is taking ‘a wait and see approach’ to the matter.