A new revolutionary law in California is the first domino of a probable nationwide movement against one of the most corrupt industries. California recently established a groundbreaking law allowing college athletes to profit of their names and likenesses. The NCAA has been strongly supportive of the policy of not granting athletes money outside of places such as scholarships and accessibility towards education. To begin his article on the newfound Bill, Alan Blinder states “It has been a bedrock principle behind college sports: Student-athletes should not be paid beyond the costs of attending a university” (Blinder). The long-standing statement of college athletes not being paid could find itself to soon be part of the past.
Many college athletes have had their career born and even more have had their athletic career die in college with nothing left to profit off. The NCAA is an extremely profitable system due to the “show” being put on in the field, pool, or court is 100% profit as those who participate cost nothing. This Bill brought by Californian Governor Gavin Newsom has its sights on ending this dilemma.
Athletes according to Blinder’s article, will be able to receive money from companies allowing them to gain profit off a life consuming job. Collegiate athletes have rigorous practice and training schedules on top of attempting to maintain a balanced life with school. The financial support given to the best of the athletes allow the players to finally claim their own name, bringing in an early boost of cash to boost them into their future lives.
Tournaments that bring in hundreds of millions of dollars for Californian universities such as Cal, Stanford and USC could be deemed ineligible. The situation as a whole leaves the players as the clear winner of a long awaited solution to the issue. The programs that these programs run on would not be able to function without the funds and profits from these tourneys; “If the association declared the schools ineligible to compete, their teams could not appear in showcase events like the College Football Playoff and the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments, made-for-TV moments that help some universities pull in more than $100 million each year”(Blinder). The NCAA’s pure for profit mentality will finally be altered through the form of government. If the programs were to not abide by these laws they would be losing too much by being unable to participate in these precious tournaments giving Universities vital advertisements.
Every collegiate athlete now has their voice heard, coming through an unusual yet unsurprising source in the ground breaking Californian government. The California has started or quickly followed suit on many issues across the country and with this bill California aims to alter college sports forever. The NCAA has become a villain figure of sorts, preying on athletes forced to perform in college by professional league restrictions. With this change we hope to see other states quickly follow, eventually causing the NCAA to eradicate any restricts against companies and teams interested in marketing their players to the world.
