On Oct. 29 the NCAA unanimously voted that the NCAA would allow college athletes to make profit off of their names, images and likenesses.  The NCAA is going to begin the process to update the rules and regulation and are hoping to put this into effect by 2021.  

However, in the early days of September the State of California proposed a bill called “The Fair Pay to Play” act.  This act would allow college athletes in California to earn money by signing endorsement deals, earn compensation based on usage of the athlete’s name, give them the ability to sign licensing contracts and allow that athlete to sign agents to help them with the deals.

On the morning of Sept. 30 the bill was signed by Gavin Newsom, the governor of California.  The bill would have taken effect on January first 2023, according to Jack Kelly of Forbes.

“This bill passing would’ve giving California a better pull factor for recruits,”  said Junior Zach Jenkins, a Dimond Varsity basketball player. 

 Athletes everywhere have been looking at California when applying to colleges for athletics until Oct. 29  

“The insane thing about it being California to propose this bill is all the colleges that are in that state,̈  said Jenkins.  

The state of California oversees 108 athletic programs according to the NCAA.

“I do think a lot of kids don’t have a lot of spending money to do anything socially like go out for pizza on Friday night,¨ said Dimond English teacher Kristen Melican-Nevala.  

The NCAA does allow student-athletes to have jobs, but they are monitored by the athletics department so that all rules regarding the employment are followed according to the NCAA student athlete rules.   

Professional athletes have been taking to social media supporting the bill.  Even Lakers superstar Lebron James supports the bill as it was signed on his hit HBO series “The Shop”.  Draymond Green, star forward for the Golden State Warriors praises the states bill even going to such lengths and saying at Warriors media day that the “NCAA is a dictatorship.”  Some players have said how much this could have changed their families life if they were allowed to earn money.

“Colleges shouldn’t pay the athletes because then it would be a matter of which school has the most money when it comes to recruiting,” said Jenkins.

Dimond Sophomore Alex Bruce said “This won’t just help basketball and football programs recruit better, but all of the schools athletic programs recruit.  Like baseball, soccer and even golf. Sports like that have their own fan bases and even there own brands like Callaway for golf.”

People do tend to forget that college athletics is more than just football and basketball.  Many other sports have a following and athletes competing in those sports who come from a bunch of different walks of life helping athletes who come from poorer neighborhoods and make money to suport family.

“If you are a kid and you play a sport in Virginia and are the top in the nation or something like that, how would you feel if somebody playing the same sport as you in California and is worse than you but is making money off endorsements because a company can use them for that?  I would be pretty upset,” said Jenkins.

Now that the NCAA will allow pay for athletes throughout the nation it would allow those kids who play for schools not in California have the chance to earn profit. 

The bill was talked about in New York, which has 104 colleges who have athletic programs, and Florida, where the state has more than 144 athletic programs according to the NCAA.  

Getting this unanimously voted on is huge and opens up so many more opportunities after and throughout college. Sports can be changed forever by this act.