Greg Dulcich, a wide receiver on the U. of California at Los Angeles football team, jumps for a pass in a September 21 game against Washington State U. The governor of California has signed a bill that allows athletes at California universities to earn money from their name, image, and likeness rights.William Mancebo, Getty Images
California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, made the state’s challenge to amateurism in collegiate sports a reality on Monday, signing into law a bill that allows athletes at California universities to earn money from their name, image, and likeness rights starting in 2023.
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Greg Dulcich, a wide receiver on the U. of California at Los Angeles football team, jumps for a pass in a September 21 game against Washington State U. The governor of California has signed a bill that allows athletes at California universities to earn money from their name, image, and likeness rights.William Mancebo, Getty Images
California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, made the state’s challenge to amateurism in collegiate sports a reality on Monday, signing into law a bill that allows athletes at California universities to earn money from their name, image, and likeness rights starting in 2023.
“This is the beginning of a national movement — one that transcends geographic and partisan lines,” Newsom said in a news release. “Colleges reap billions from these student-athletes’ sacrifices and success but, in the same breath, block them from earning a single dollar. That’s a bankrupt model.”
Newsom signed the bill on the HBO show of one of its most vocal proponents: the professional basketball player LeBron James. Also present for the episode of The Shop were the former UCLA gymnast Katelyn Ohashi, the WNBA player Diana Taurasi, and the former UCLA basketball player Ed O’Bannon.
During the show, James praised the bill, saying that one reason he skipped playing college basketball was to make money sooner to help his mom. “This is a game-changer for student-athletes and for equity in sports,” James said on the show. “Athletes at every level deserve to be empowered and to be fairly compensated for their work, especially in a system where so many are profiting off of their talents.”
When the California State Assembly passed the legislation unanimously, in early September, the National Collegiate Athletic Association cautioned Newsom not to sign the bill, calling it “unconstitutional” and saying “it would erase the critical distinction between college and professional athletics.” The NCAA had previously commissioned a working group to study athletes’ name, image, and likeness rights in response to the California legislation, and its preliminary report is expected in October.
Sports-law experts previously forecasted to The Chronicle that, if the bill were enacted, California would open the door to a legal battle with the NCAA. “The NCAA has to come out with some vigor to oppose what would be a pretty substantial change to their model of amateurism,” said Michael McCann, director of the Sports and Entertainment Law Institute at the University of New Hampshire.
Gabe Feldman, director of Tulane University’s sports-law program, cited NCAA v. Miller, a case in which the University of Nevada at Las Vegas argued that state law held priority over the NCAA’s rules, as a benchmark for any future litigation. In NCAA v. Miller, a federal court found the state’s statute in violation of the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution, dealing UNLV a loss. Despite that precedent, Feldman did concede that the NCAA’s constraints around amateurism are “more likely to get some change than ever before.”
In a statement responding to the California bill, the NCAA stressed that change needed to occur on the federal level, not state by state. “Unfortunately, this new law already is creating confusion for current and future student-athletes, coaches, administrators, and campuses, and not just in California,” the statement said. “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.”
Copycat bills have cropped up around the country. A New York state senator has introduced similar legislation, and two South Carolina state lawmakers plan to introduce a bill in January. Experts warned that going state-by-state was unlikely to change the NCAA’s rules, but a federal bill is in the works as well.
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The Student-Athlete Equity Act, a bipartisan bill introduced this year in the U.S. House of Representatives, now rests with the House Committee on Ways and Means. If enacted, the measure would amend the federal tax code to prevent amateur-sports organizations from “restricting the use of an athlete’s name, image, or likeness.”
For now, the NCAA’s main fight will stay in California. “The minute we sign this, all of the sudden now they have to deal with California,” Newsom said on The Shop. “I don’t want to say this is checkmate, but this is a major problem for the NCAA.”
Wesley Jenkins is an editorial intern at The Chronicle. Follow him on Twitter @_wesjenks, or email him at wjenkins@chronicle.com.
