Trophies from the 2019 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships (Photo/Sam Janicki, SJanickiPhoto.com)Over the 109 years since the formation of the NCAA, the organization has remained steadfast in its commitment to amateurism -- even when collegiate athletics became a billion-dollar industry -- a feat that caused the regulatory body to be likened to a cartel. In late September, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the Fair Pay to Play Act into law, potentially altering the landscape of intercollegiate athletics.
Newsom's bill permits athletes attending college in the Golden State to hire agents and pursue outside endorsements. For the first time, student-athletes will have the opportunity to promote products and companies, and financially benefit from their athletic status.
For instance, if Ford wanted to sign a deal with former USC running back Reggie Bush paying him $20,000 per season to drive to every home game at the Coliseum in a new Ford F-150, the passing of Senate Bill 206 allows for an arrangement like this to be legitimate starting in 2023.
"Colleges and universities reap billions from these student-athletes' sacrifices and success but block them from earning a single dollar. That's a bankrupt model -- one that puts institutions ahead of the students they are supposed to serve," Newsom said.
Newsom's statement is based on the fact that numerous different NCAA stakeholders, including the media, individual schools, athletic conferences, coaches, apparel manufacturers and distributors and other commercial entities all make millions, if not billions of dollars from the efforts of these students on the field, hardwood or mat. Yet, the athletes receive zero of the revenues they help generate due to the current amateurism restrictions.
Since Newsom's action, other states have started the process toward comparable legislation of their own, though nothing has passed yet.
This legislation overrides current NCAA policies forbidding competitors from receiving compensation falling outside their traditional scholarship. Before Newsom's ruling, student-athletes could not accept endorsement deals or payments for the use of their images or persona. In 2023, when the Fair Pay to Play Act officially takes effect in California, they can.
As an organization, the NCAA accumulated over $1 billion in annual revenue for the first time during the 2017 fiscal year, according to USA Today. It did so again in 2018, turning a profit of roughly $27 million. Such figures, of which the athletes receive zero, are the driving force behind these litigations and ultimately Newsom's Senate Bill 206.
Many have spoken to the impact this development will have on revenue-generating sports such as football and men's basketball, but few have discussed the ramifications on Olympic sports like wrestling.
For collegiate wrestling, this could be a huge development and advancement for the sport. Unlike football or basketball, wrestling is a sport where the scholarships awarded to student-athletes are traditionally partial scholarships. In fact, on a given team there are 9.9 scholarships at the DI level, 9 per team for DII programs, 8 for NAIA programs and up to 16 scholarships for NJCAA programs.
If those numbers seem low to you, that's because they are. Football, NCAA's most scholarship-heavy sport at the DI level offers 85 scholarships per team. In most cases, these offerings are what are referred to as "full-rides," though they do fall short in some areas. Additionally, when you consider that there are ten weight classes within collegiate wrestling and that a team usually carries upwards of 30 wrestlers on their roster at any given time, these 9.9 scholarships are exceptionally sparse.
Newsom's law, though it won't right the many wrongs wrestling has faced over the years -- including the dozens of program cuts over the last few decades, in an effort to maintain Title IX compliance, but it is a small step in the right direction. This legislation will help compensate the dozen or so college wrestlers on any given active roster who currently receive zero scholarship dollars, despite putting in over 40 hours per week lifting, training, watching film and representing their school on the mat.
While the combat sport doesn't garner the same media attention and fanfare that "The Big Four" North American sports do, college wrestlers, particularly those in Big Ten country, other markets like Stillwater, Oklahoma, Ames, Iowa, Columbia Missouri, Ithaca, New York and a handful of others are household names.
At schools like Iowa, Minnesota Northwestern, Cornell, and Arizona State, an argument can be made that Spencer Lee, Gable Steveson, Sebastian Rivera, Yanni Diakomihalis and Zahid Valencia are the most successful athletes on their respective campuses, even if they are not the most well-known. That said, these athletes deserve to be compensated for what they individually bring to their university. Senate Bill 206 allows for this.
Another beneficial aspect of this legislation, albeit a seldom discussed one, is its ability to ease the financial burden that comes with trying to qualify for the Olympics for wrestlers. Wrestling is very much an international sport. As such, many Olympic qualifying tournaments and invitationals take place overseas. Allowing wrestlers to accept outside endorsements and sponsorships will help cover the often-pricey expense that is international travel. Prior to the induction of Senate Bill 206, this was the sole responsibility of the athlete and accepting any outside funding would compromise NCAA eligibility.
A final benefit worthy of discussion is the unique opportunity it provides wrestling-specific apparel and merchandising brands like Cliff Keen, Rudis and Asics, which also has a large presence in the wrestling world. Now, these merchandisers will have access to the best young athletes that the sports have to offer during their peak years of competition. Prior NCAA regulations meant NCAA wrestlers were off limits to brands like these until they began their international careers post-college.
For those worried that Newsom's legislation would provide an unfair recruiting advantage to schools like Stanford, Arizona State and others located in California, that is a valid point. However, the NCAA is actively working to eliminate this concern by passing further legislation that would amount to a "universal Bill 206" if you will.
On Oct. 29, 2019, nearly a month to the day after Gov. Newsom signed Senate Bill 206, the NCAA Board of Governors expressed via press release, their desire to start the process of enhancing the name, image and likeness opportunities for athletes across all three NCAA divisions.
"We must embrace change to provide the best possible experience for college athletes," said Michael V. Drake, chair of the board and president of The Ohio State University. "Additional flexibility in this area can and must continue to support college sports as a part of higher education. This modernization for the future is a natural extension of the numerous steps NCAA members have taken in recent years to improve support for student-athletes, including full cost of attendance and guaranteed scholarships."
The board asked each division to create any new rules beginning immediately, but no later than January 2021 -- virtually ensuring that, by the time the California Fair Pay to Play Act takes effect, all NCAA member institutions will be on equal footing as far as name, image and likeness rights are concerned for student-athletes.
Currently, a broad plan exists, but what does it truly mean given legitimate, tangible and quantifiable changes may not be seen until as late as 2023?
Few know what the true impact of these decisions will be, but it does allow student-athletes, and more importantly wrestlers like Lee, Steveson, Rivera, Diakomihalis and Valencia and others to set their own market as student-athletes and help make up for some of the obvious scholarship shortfalls under the current NCAA structure.
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