California vs the National Collegiate Athletic Association

The COVID-19 pandemic brought with it dramatic changes to the world of collegiate athletics, but the National Collegiate Athletic Association has fallen far behind state governments, most importantly California, in its attempt to provide equity to student athletes.

California is home to some of the most prominent athletic programs in the United States, including Stanford University, the University of Southern California, UC Berkeley, UCLA, San Diego State University, Pepperdine University, Cal State Fullerton, San Jose State University, University of the Pacific, among almost 100 others.

These universities have put hundreds of athletes into the NFL, NBA, WNBA and MLB as well as more into the Olympics. Denver Broncos hall-of-fame quarterback John Elway, New York Mets hall-of-fame pitcher Tom Seaver, NBA all-time leading scorer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, five-time Olympic gold medalist Katie Ledecky and Heisman Trophy winner Jim Plunkett are just a small sample of the stellar collegiate athletes from California who have changed the face of their respective sports.

Coaches and players from California have impacted how their respective sports are played, and now our state is attempting to impact the way the sport is governed.

California has taken it upon itself to "move the ball down the field" when it comes to compensating collegiate athletes. California Assemblymember Sydney Kamlager introduced a bill called the College Athlete Race and Gender Equity Act (Assembly Bill 609) with the intention of allowing certain athletes to receive a royalty from their university. The bill seeks to provide name, image and likeness (or "NIL") compensation for athletes in certain sports (specifically football and basketball).

The NCAA is contemplating a version of NIL compensation for athletes from the private sector, while awaiting potential oversight from Congress and the courts. California's legislators however believe the NCAA has not gone far enough to promote and fairly compensate college athletes.

This latest proposed bill promotes the rights of specific college athletes in California. In 2019, the state passed the "Student Athlete Bill of Rights" (AB 206) which allows student athletes to be compensated if an individual or institution uses his or her name, image or likeness. This new bill also proposes that universities tie overall administrative compensation and expenditures to Title IX adherence and essentially creates a profit-sharing agreement between certain college athletes and the school itself.

While AB 609 has only been introduced and has not yet been debated, it shows California's increased focus on rewriting the rules of amateur college athletics within our state.

After the pandemic forced the NCAA to dramatically cut budgets, the NCAA may now alleviate some of the pain this caused by allowing athletes to earn some compensation through profiting on NIL. However, Assemblymember Kamlager represents some districts where college athletes can really compete for a prominent university, help its athletic program turn a profit, and unfortunately never cash in on their athletic prowess.

A number of critics of the NCAA have come forward to highlight these and other inequities in college athletics. In his book "The Myth of the Amateur: A History of College Athletic Scholarships," author Ronald A. Smith highlights how race, class and gender have all played a role in how college athlete compensation has been approached. The penalties which the NCAA has issued for various violations have often been difficult to understand.

Acclaimed sports journalist Mitch Albom once shared a story that former University of Michigan star Chris Webber showed him how his jersey was on sale in a local store window but he could barely afford cafeteria food at his own university which was profiting off of his hard work and collegiate fame.

According to the U.S. Department of Education, college athletics generated more than $14 billion in revenue in 2018, up from $3 billion just 14 years before. According to USA Today, the average college football head coach in Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS, formerly known as Division I) is $2.7 million. The average FBS college basketball head coach makes $1.47 million according to the Houston Chronicle.

For more than a century, college athletes have been shut out economically and haven't been able to make any profit off of their play save for the college degree they receive for "free." However, in a 2014 article published in Inside Higher Ed, John V. Lombardi (a former president of athletic powerhouse University of Florida) argued that "compensation" an amateur athlete receives from universities differs. In his article, a degree from Stanford would cost $240,000 in 2014 while a degree from Ohio State University that same year would cost between $88,000 and $152,000. In addition, in the business world those college degrees have varying values to employers. So, Lombardi argued that there already exists a different way in which players are currently "compensated."

While the NCAA is moving slowly to change the system, California seems much less interested in preserving the past than in creating equality and equity now. College athletes playing today are still part of a collegiate system where a running back, line backer or quarterback plays three to four seasons without any direct compensation. Today, the NIL of those college athletes can still be used without the athlete being compensated in any way.

One area where this inequity and conflict is quite obvious is in the video game arena. Video game makers create games based on popular college football programs and the current use of the NIL of athletes without those athletes receiving a check for their face appearing in a game. When this issue began to be litigated in courts throughout the country, video game makers backed off.

However, EA Sports is reviving its very popular college football game. Not every school is on board though, with major universities such as Notre Dame refusing to allow their name and logos to be included until new NCAA rules that determine athlete NIL compensation and "amateurism" are finalized.

Ultimately, California is making college athlete compensation a marquee issue and forcing the NCAA to be far bolder than it ever has.

For nearly a century, the NCAA has profited off the backs of its college athletes. Billions of dollars have been earned without a dime going directly to the income generators, the collegiate players.

Shame on you, NCAA. It is time for a sea change. College athletes deserve to be compensated now! 