The Pac-12 Conference is not happy with the state of California right now. On Monday, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill that will allow college athletes to get paid through endorsements. The law will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2023 and the Pac-12 released a statement about the new law.
“The Pac-12 is disappointed in the passage of SB 206 and believes it will have very significant negative consequences for our student-athletes and broader universities in California,” it said in a statement. “This legislation will lead to the professionalization of college sports and many unintended consequences related to this professionalism, imposes a state law that conflicts with national rules, will blur the lines for how California universities recruit student-athletes and compete nationally, and will likely reduce resources and opportunities for student-athletes in Olympic sports and have a negative disparate impact on female student-athletes.
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“Our universities have led important student-athlete reform over the past years, but firmly believe all reforms must treat our student-athletes as students pursuing an education, and not as professional athletes. We will work with our universities to determine next steps and ensure continuing support for our student-athletes.”
The interesting thing about the Pac-12 commenting on this is four schools from California are members of the conference including Cal-Berkley, UCLA, USC and Stanford. What could happen is the NCAA could ban those schools from league competition. If that happens, those schools could leave the NCAA and start their own league. And by the looks of things, more states are looking to pass the same law very soon.
“It’s going to initiate dozens of other states to introduce similar legislation,” Newsom said on the Uninterrupted talk show The Shop according to the Los Angeles Times. “And it’s going to change college sports for the better by having now the interest finally of the athletes on par with the interests of the institution. Now we are rebalancing that power.”
Greg Sankey, the commissioner of the SEC, released a statement about the topic and he indicates the dangers the law brings.
“There is meaningful concern related to the inherent consequences that will inevitably arise when individual states unilaterally alter a set of rules that currently apply to student-athletes and universities throughout the country,” he said. “… We must also fully address the underlying potential for abuse by external influences and strive for a structure that appropriately ties financial support of student-athletes to their educational pursuits.”
