California Governor Signs Bill Allowing College Athletes To Profit

An anonymous reader quotes a report from NPR: In a move that puts California on a collision course with the NCAA, Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed a bill effectively allowing college athletes in the state to earn compensation for the use of their likeness, sign endorsement deals and hire agents to represent them. The governor signed the measure in a segment released Monday by Uninterrupted, a sports programming company co-founded by LeBron James. Newsom proclaimed the move as “the beginning of a national movement — one that transcends geographic and partisan lines.” California is the first state to pass such a law, which is to take effect on Jan. 1, 2023. That marks a significant shift from the current policies enforced by the NCAA, collegiate sports’ national governing body, which generally renders student-athletes ineligible to accept compensation for “the use of his or her name or picture to advertise, recommend or promote directly the sale or use of a commercial product or service of any kind.” And the NCAA Board of Governors pushed back hard against the bill at the time of its passage in the Legislature, saying that it would leave the playing field for universities of different sizes radically uneven. “Collegiate student athletes put everything on the line — their physical health, future career prospects and years of their lives to compete. Colleges reap billions from these student athletes’ sacrifices and success but, in the same breath, block them from earning a single dollar,” Newsom said in a statement. “That’s a bankrupt model — one that puts institutions ahead of the students they are supposed to serve. It needs to be disrupted.” In response, a 22-member panel composed mostly of university presidents and athletic directors said in a letter: “Right now, nearly half a million student-athletes in all 50 states compete under the same rules. This bill would remove that essential element of fairness and equal treatment that forms the bedrock of college sports.”