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On Monday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the Fair Pay to Play Act.
The law will allow athletes at California’s universities and colleges to monetize their names and likenesses. More simply put, the athletes will be able to accept money for endorsements.
As expected, the law was met with heavy opposition from the NCAA, which would like to continue the farce that its current model of amateurism has the best interest of student-athletes at heart.
Forgive us if we just can’t take the NCAA – a billion dollar industry that somehow passes itself off as a nonprofit – at its word.
While the law won’t take affect until Jan. 1, 2023, it has already drawn quick action by legislators in other states.
Thankfully, Pennsylvania is one of those states.
According to sports writer Derek Levarse’s story in Wednesday’s Times Leader, state Reps. Dan Miller and Ed Gainey, both Democrats from Allegheny County, announced their intentions Tuesday to create a bill that would “largely mirror” California’s.
Local state Rep Gerald Mullery, D-Newport Township, was quick to throw his support behind the Pennsylvania bill.
”I fully support a Pennsylvania version of the Fair Pay to Play Act and will be adding my name to legislation proposed by Reps. Miller and Gainey,” Mullery wrote in an email to the Times Leader. “In a system where so many profit from the talent, hard work and dedication of student athletes, more should be done to empower and compensate those who are the heart and soul of the system.
“The time has come to balance the scales and allow our college athletes to seize control of their names, images and likenesses. … As the father of current and future Division I athletes, I know we can do better in Pennsylvania. This bill is a positive first step.”
We couldn’t agree with Mullery more.
Keep in mind, this bill is not about allowing colleges to pay athletes to compete for them. The bill would simply allow athletes to make some money off something that belongs to them and them alone – their names.
No one seems to get upset when a world-class oboe player pursuing a music degree spends his summer earning an extra few bucks by plying his craft.
Why should we object if Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford earns a couple of hundred dollars for making an appearance at his hometown car dealership? Or Notre Dame quarterback Ian Book lines his pockets a little bit for being grand marshal of Scranton’s St. Patrick’s Day parade? (Personally, we think Matt McGloin or Rocket Ismail but that’s just us.)
We don’t see any reason to, especially when you consider the billions of dollars that the NCAA puts into its overstuffed coffers every year.
Certainly, one national set of rules governing all student athletes would be optimal. And the NCAA does have four years to come up with a plan of its own to make the patchwork of state laws that is sure to arise moot.
But since we don’t plan on holding our breath waiting for the NCAA to actually put the best interest of athletes first, we’re glad to see our state legislators making sure Pennsylvania’s student athletes get as fair a shake as possible.
– Times Leader