College Athletes Can Profit Off Names: NCAA

College athletes can now profit off their names with endorsements and other deals, the NCAA's Board of Governors said Tuesday. The NCAA still objects to colleges paying its athletes directly but the decision Tuesday is a change for the organization and follows California Gov. Gavin Newsom's signing of a bill that allows players to make endorsement deals and hire agents.

Michael V. Drake, the president of Ohio State University and a member of the college athletic association's governing board, said the change moves the NCAA into the 21st century and allows college athletes to grab a share of what is a multibillion-d0llar industry.

“We must embrace change to provide the best possible experience for college athletes,” Drake said in a statement. “Additional flexibility in this area can and must continue to support college sports as a part of higher education. This modernization for the future is a natural extension of the numerous steps NCAA members have taken in recent years to improve support for student-athletes, including full cost of attendance and guaranteed scholarships.”

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The NCAA, which represents some 450,000 athletes nationwide, approved the change as part of a strategy to avoid court battles with states that are considering laws similar to the one in California that takes effect in 2023. Other states may get laws on their books as soon as next year.

California State Sen. Nancy Skinner, a Berkeley Democrat, one of the sponsors of the legislation that set up the NCAA change, said rules that prohibit athletes from profiting off their names are "wrong."

State Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, and state Sen. Steve Bradford, D-Gardena, authored the legislation targeting National Collegiate Athletic Association rules that do not allow student athletes to earn compensation from their association with college sports.

"For decades, college sports has generated billions for all involved except the very people most responsible for creating the wealth," she said.

The details of the landmark NCAA decision haven't yet been worked out, though the board asked leaders of its three divisions to "create new rules beginning immediately" and have them completed no later than January 2021.