Gender Equity at Heart of New California NIL Law

The NCAA isn’t the only entity trying to force the terms of name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals to become public.

Last week, the California state legislature passed an amendment to its existing NIL law requiring any deals worth $5,000 or more to be reported to their schools, who will then publicize the information in anonymized data separated by sport and gender. The amendment is currently awaiting Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature. 

The amendment is part of a larger push for NIL transparency. This summer, the NCAA has begun publicizing anonymized data, and is hoping to implement not only a mandatory reporting structure, but also an enforcement arm to block deals seen as “pay for play.” For the NCAA, the goal is to curb the power of NIL collectives.

That’s not the intention of California’s transparency law, however, which is instead focused on gender equity. Sen. Nancy Skinner, who authored the amendment, hopes the reporting requirements will shame companies and NIL collectives into offering more equitable deals to women’s sports athletes.

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