On Monday September 30, California Governor Gavin Newson signed the Fair Pay to Play Act into law. This law allows for college athletes in California to be paid and allows them to hire agents to represent them and also allows them to earn compensation for the use of their likeness. Current NCAA laws do not allow for college athletes to be paid. 

California is the first state to allow this law and will take effect on January 1 of 2023. It has been a huge controversy on whether college student athletes should be paid or not. 

The NCAA has strongly opposed this law and they even threatened to ban California schools from playing in the postseason, including them from playing in the NCAA tournament. The NCAA banning California universities will also destroy the Pac-12 which is a college athlete conference that takes place in the Western United States and includes California schools. These schools are huge money makers for the NCAA so banning them could be a problem. 

Possible negotiations of other states passing this law are in discussion in many states including in Florida, Washington, and Colorado. If any more states join to pass this bill and if the state has a larger population and is huge on college athletics then any hope in change for the NCAA is probably not going to happen unless they negotiate. 

The NCAA responded after the bill was signed, “this new law already is creating confusion for current and future student-athletes, coaches, administrators and campuses, and not just in California. . . ” according to the Washington Post. 

Although the law doesn’t go into effect until 2023, it allows everyone to come up with a real solution. The final result may not satisfy everybody but the law will now lead to more college athletes being able to secure more money based.