California lawmakers pen letter urging colleges, universities to get to paying their athletes

California Sens. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, and Steven Bradford, D-Gardena, co-authored SB 206, the 2019 law that permits collegiate athletes to enter into Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) agreements to financially benefit from their play. 

On Wednesday, Skinner and Bradford released a letter, along with bill co-sponsors Ramogi Huma of the National College Players Association and antitrust economist Andy Schwarz, to California colleges and universities urging them to take advantage of the law by entering into direct NIL agreements with their players.

Currently, universities aren’t really taking advantage of this, they wrote. “To date, most NIL deals are being made directly between commercial entities — such as a sports drink or sports apparel company — and college athletes. Or, the NIL deals are being made between NIL collectives, i.e. wealthy boosters, and student athletes,” they wrote.

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