On the heels of California’s landmark law allowing college athletes to earn money from their names images and likenesses, a Florida representative has filed a similar bill – with a much quicker timetable.
Florida state representative Kionne McGhee (Dem.) filed HB 251 on Monday, per WTSP.com. The bill would prohibit colleges from preventing student-athletes from earning compensation, with specific limits spelled out.
The bill is similar to California’s, which was officially signed into law yesterday. Both bills ultimately target the NCAA’s amateurism restrictions, which prevent student-athletes from earning money off of their names, images or student-athlete statuses. The NCAA has already responded to California’s law, and has implied that it could ban all California colleges from NCAA competition.
The main difference, though, is that California’s law doesn’t take effect until January of 2023. The Florida bill is much more aggressive with its timetable – if it passes Florida’s legislative system and is signed into law, it would take effect on July 1, 2020, according to Sports Illustrated.
The NCAA admitted in its statement that “changes are needed,” and California’s law was expected to force some level of change over the three years until it takes effect. But Florida’s bill would move up the timetable significantly, giving the NCAA only about nine months to come to a decision on whether to change its policies or block Florida schools from competition.
I am not against anyone earning money and God knows college is becoming a real financial challenge. I just do not see how this helps swimmers. Elite swimmers might benefit from this, but that is an extremely small group. The American woman or man who gets 10th at NCAA’s (a fantastic swimmer), probably won’t see a dollar. The few swimmers that go pro and don’t participate in college swimming travel the world, have other experiences(business opportunities that take time), and can train outside of the rules of the NCAA in all areas, not just money. The sponsors of the elite can give out full scholarship reimbursement to that swimmers choice based on their academic abilities. I am a big fan… Read more »
Speaking as a NCAA swimmer, it’s not only about the sponsorships either. Being an NCAA athlete has even prevented me from getting on campus jobs and whatnot.
When I attempted to become an brand ambassador for a textbook buyback company and a clothing apparel company, I was told by our schools athletic director that this would violate NCAA rules because I would be using my likeness to sell and earn money for another company. Even though I wasn’t directly using my likeness for profit, they said that the NCAA might say that that I was using my likeness to increase sales or something. I missed out on earning about $160 per week as a result, which would have made… Read more »
I totally agree. Do you know how many doors this would open to allow NCAA athletes to make extra money away from their direct sport? My child is a D1 athlete who was scouted on the street for a sportswear commercial. They weren’t going to use a name, and it was just for apparel, but it still would have been a NCAA violation. That one commercial would have meant that she wouldn’t have needed student loans for one year of college. Athletes who aren’t on full rides have hefty tuition bills at many schools, but everyone thinks full rides are the norm, they’re not.
This is a terrible idea in almost every way. The impact on Swimming and most college sports is insignificant. This is only about football and basketball. The potential to earn money by top prospects will be greatest in big markets like LA and NY so they will all choose schools like USC and UCLA over schools like Oklahoma, Iowa, Michigan etc. The playing field is not level now but this will create a few dominant programs while most will have no chance to compete. Not sure how receiving a full scholarship worth up to $75k at some schools is not getting paid.
This isn’t about the schools’ paying of the athletes. It’s about letting them do endorsements. It really only applies to the elite in each sport.
Seems to me that scholarship athletes should have all endorsement funds put into a trust and they only get it if they graduate! If they want to go pro then forfeit the cash and it all goes to the university. After all, you are supposed to
Be going to COLLEGE. And the NCAA should start an athlete partnership like USAS. A good compromise.
Bruh. Why would they put it in a trust fund when they could use it on other things like food gas books etc. not everyone gets a full ride.
It seems to me that the athletes that will get the endorsements are more than likely the athletes that also get the “full ride” scholarships.
Football they do, plus cost of attendance.
This is going to get real interesting when these athletes and schools have to pay the taxes on paraphernalia sold in different states.
One of the most interesting parts of all of this to me is the specific states that are taking action. No offense to the other 48 states, but FL and CA are pretty big swimming powerhouses (for both club and college competition). If the NCAA were to block the affected schools from competition, there’s no question that some pretty large waves would be made in the sport. If this were to go through as well, this would be giving the organization almost no choice but to try and work something out from their current stance.
Yeah – the proffered NCAA threat against the 4 Pac12 CA. schools; who have something like 385+ NCAA titles between them; seems rather specious indeed. My take is a sorta hybrid of the two sentiments directly above mine here. We’ll see!
In the scale of the paying student athletes I don’t think swimming powerhouses are actually going to be very relevant. Its the big ticket sports like football and basketball that will really matter. Schools in Florida and California have massive national football followings and the ncaa with lose major money if they ban them
I think the bills are an attempt to force the NCAA’s hand towards compromise/progress…they even admitted some change is required. I don’t think we’ll see everything in the CA bull come true, but the NCAA is gonna have to move the needle even somewhat.
Well things just got ramped up quite a bit
A VERY interesting development. At first, I was against the idea of SA compensation. It seems inevitable now; NCAA into 21st century?
Yes. Florida goes this way & the floodgates open with impunity. Ohio State might be challenged on scheduling by their (cough) principles.
Why would you ever be against it? The students are working for the school earning the school money and how they act makes a big impact on how the school is previewed in the community. They should be allowed to use their name to earn them some cash.
For swimming, it will not be a problem. For football and men’s basketball, “students” will go to the highest bidder. The Florida law starts with limits on how much they can make Will be challenged, and the limit will be gone. Schools will pay more and more to stay relevant, less money for non revenue sports.