Richard Sherman Hopes The New California Law Allowing Athletes To Get Paid ‘Destroys’ The NCAA

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San Francisco 49ers’ star defensive back Richard Sherman says he hopes the new California law allowing college athletes to get paid “destroys” the NCAA..

The new pay-to-play law will finally allow college athletes to profit off of their likeness, name, and image – something universities have been doing for decades without paying them – and will grant athletes the freedom to hire an agent to facilitate these endorsement deals.

The new law is set to go into effect in 2023, but for now it is just limited to college athletes in the state of California.

Sherman, a Stanford graduate and one of the most well-spoken players in the NFL, hopes this is the tipping point for masive changes in college sports.

On Monday at the 49ers’ practice facility, Sherman told the media, “I hope it destroys the NCAA, in general, because I think it’s corrupt, and I think it’s a bunch of people taking advantage of kids and doing it under a mask of fair play.”

Sherman added, “It’s either going to cripple the NCAA in a way that they start to bend and make it more fair and more of a symbiotic relationship between players and the NCAA, or it’s going to destroy them and will start a whole new way of college athletics in general. I can respect that, too.”

Warriors big man Draymond Green agrees with Sherman, saying at a press conference on Monday, “The universities are making a ton of money off of your likeness. I think it is the most bankrupt model.”

Sherman also believes that with California Governor Gavin Newsom signing the pay-to-play bill into law, states like Texas, Florida, and others will more than likely follow suit to avoid losing all the best athletes to the Golden State (regardless of what the NCAA says).

And for those who argue that college athletes are already getting paid in the form of a free education, Sherman points out, “If you did a cost analysis of how much each student brings in compared to what they earn in scholarship, one number would be greater than the other. The bowl executives get how much? How much does March Madness executives get? Who’s getting all that money? That’s the thing that’s so messed up is most people in the civilized world who are paying attention couldn’t tell you where the money is going.”

None other than LeBron James explained why this move makes sense, for both the athletes as well as the schools, “For sure I would have been one of those kids if I would have went off to Ohio State or if I went off to any one of these big-time colleges where pretty much that 23 jersey would have got sold all over the place without my name on the back. But everybody would’ve known the likeness. My body would have been on the NCAA basketball game, 2004. The Schottenstein Center would have been sold out every single night if I was there.”

And he wouldn’t have seen a single dime of it, killing any incentive he might have had to hold off on earning the millions of dollars awaiting him in the NBA.