California Has Literally Changed The Game By Passing A Law That Allows College Athletes To Profit Off Of Their Likeness

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The NCAA has a long and storied history of screwing over student-athletes at every possible turn, whether it’s suspending college kids for playing fantasy football, shutting down fundraisers for injured players, or making someone give up their scholarship because they had a successful side hustle.

The NCAA does seemingly everything in its power to ensure broke college kids remain broke despite the fact that it rakes in over $1 billion in annual revenue, approximately zero of which finds its way into the pockets of the people who are largely responsible for making such a windfall possible.

A few months ago, California set out to right more than a century of wrong when it introduced a bill that would allow student-athletes to profit off of their likeness much to the chagrin of the NCAA, which did everything in its power to stop the bill in its tracks (including some light blackmail).

However, despite the organization’s valiant efforts, the bill was passed by the state’s legislature last month and sent to the desk of Governor Gavin Newsom, who has officially signed it into law.

While the new policy won’t be instituted until 2023, student-athletes in California will be free to make money off of their name, image, and likeness and will also be able to hire agents to facilitate endorsement deals.

Newsom discussed the particulars with LeBron James and the gang on the most recent installment of The Shop and it appears he’s confident that this could be the beginning of a new movement, as other states have also started to explore similar legislation.

It’s about damn time.

Connor Toole avatar and headshot for BroBible
Connor Toole is the Deputy Editor at BroBible. He is a New England native who went to Boston College and currently resides in Brooklyn, NY. Frequently described as "freakishly tall," he once used his 6'10" frame to sneak in the NBA Draft and convince people he was a member of the Utah Jazz.