The California Legislature passed the Fair Pay to Play Act on Monday, September 9. (Wikimedia Commons)
This past Monday the California State Senate unanimously voted 72-0 on the Fair Pay to Play Act written by state Democrats Nancy Skinner and Steven Bradford, which will allow Californian collegiate athletes to earn compensation for their name, image, and likeliness.
Numerous bills have been proposed over the past few years that have aimed to allow college athletes to make money while maintaining their amateurism, and Senate Bill 206 looks to permit the 58 NCAA schools within the state of California to have “unrestricted name, image, and likeness scheme,” according to a letter written by the NCAA regarding the matter.
Not surprisingly, the NCAA’s board of governors have come out on the defensive, labeling this initiative as unconstitutional and a threat to schools nationwide, and threatening that the colleges and universities affected by the rule change would be barred from NCAA competitions.
The organization believes that allowing self-gain for athletes will be crossing the line into professionalism, a transition the leaders see as detrimental to the idea of a “student-athlete.”
Allowing athletes to profit off of jersey sales, video game appearances, or whatever the form might take would certainly be a viable argument in this regard, however, the rules currently restrict the rights of labor to ends that defy common sense. The present guidelines forbid athletes from profiting off their abilities in any way, whether it be providing private lessons in their sport or accepting a free meal from a fan. Legal experts have labeled these rules as violations of anti-trust laws, and for parents of these athletes as well as citizens nationwide, the NCAA is increasingly being labeled as exploiters of labor.
Superstars come through the collegiate level every year as a mandated stepping stone on the path to professional athletics, and for many of these teenagers, they lack necessary financial support while the colleges benefit at their expense. Basketball player Shabazz Napier brought this issue to light in 2014, telling the media how he often went to bed hungry. At the time, his school, Connecticut, was on route to a national championship run.
Athletes like Napier tell the story of how college athletes toil in their pursuits only for their work to pay off in the form of a check for the NCAA.
Celebrities such as Lebron James, a bypasser of the college system, has recently come to the strong defense of Bill 206 on social media, calling this law a “game changer” on Twitter.
At the surface, this law makes logical sense to the common citizen who believes in fair compensation for labor, yet there are certain issues that will need to be worked out before this law can take effect.
One major problem with the bill is that California schools will gain serious advantages over other colleges nationwide, for high school athletes will undoubtedly gravitate toward the schools where they can earn fruits for their labor, which for many means supporting both themselves and their families.
In addition, the University of California school system will undergo a great loss in revenue, millions annually to be exact, and the bill lacks any safeguards when this inevitable event will occur, according to the Daily Bruin.
Conflicts will certainly arise with the establishment of this bill, and that is why Skinner has scheduled the implementation of the law to not take effect until 2023 if Governor Gavin Newson doesn’t veto it within the next 30 days. The NCAA is encouraging California to hold off on any decisions until their executives reach a final verdict in October.
There is a fine balance between amatuerism and professionalism, and an upset in balance is bound to occur in recruiting if the bill passes as currently written.
As for now, the NCAA continues to restrict fair moneymaking methods for athletes from one university to another, without sharing any of the millions brought in on a daily basis.
