So the California legislature basically just wrote a bill preventing their colleges from enforcing NCAA amateurism requirements. They can't affect NCAA requirements directly, so it's basically daring the NCAA to sanction them.
I imagine this will end well...
Here's an interesting article from Forbes.com arguing that it would violate antitrust laws for the NCAA to sanction the California schools. Because trade organizations bylaws are not allowed to force members to violate state or federal government.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/marcedelman/2019/06/25/ncaa-cant-legally-ban-california-schools-for-allowing-athletes-to-profit-from-their-names-images-and-likenesses/#3181c74f273fAnyway, as has been mentioned, this law was deliberately written to begin in 2023 because the legislators wanted to give the NCAA that long to come up with a new plan. If the NCAA and its lawyers wait that long and don't come up with something better than "try sanctioning California" schools, then they never even bothered to try.
Just strategically, the NCAA is at a critical moment. They are effectively losing all battles in courts and legislatures, but they haven't lost all leverage. There is still time for the NCAA to recognize the inevitable future of the sport, pivot accordingly, and try to pull off a "kids-NCAA compromise" about that future before the future gets sick of waiting and decides to smack that NCAA ass however it likes.
Frankly, when it comes to player compensation, the NCAA should probably consider it a win to allow kids to "independently collect whatever market value they have coming." Because that will negligibly (if at all) subtract from administrators salaries (at the NCAA and AD level), and if this goes all the way -- where the market values open
AND the schools have to provide their revenue athletes market value stipends from AD revenue -- those administrator salaries are likely to be hit hardest and first. Likewise, many of these NCAA and AD suitcoat workforces are likely to see massive and permanent layoffs. And that isn't even to mention contraction of these AD's profit margins.
Just open the kids to their market value already. That 100% solves the moral issue while also staving off AD damage and loss of all these suitcoat jobs. The NCAA would do well to acknowledge this as a best-case compromise, rather than some radical future for them to block B.A.M.N.
