The state of California recently passed the Free Play Act into legislation. This bill, if passed, will allow for college athletes to accept brand deals and royalties from companies. 

This has happened in the past with several pro athletes who came under fire from the National Basketball Administration as well as the National Collegiate Athletic Association. Shaq says that he was “paid very well,” in his days at LSU. 

These days, college basketball is quite the money maker. The former athletic director at Louisville was paid more than $5 million, which is more than the Department of Biology ($3.3 million), English ($4 million), History ($2.4 million) or Mathematics ($3.5 million).” 

Last year, Louisville won 25 games. If the player’s share of revenue was divided by wins, each win would be worth about $912,000. The most productive player on this team was Donovan Mitchell, who produced 4.7 wins . Given the value of a win, Mitchell was worth about $4.3 million. Mitchell would have been paid close to twice as much as he was on the Jazz, being paid only $2.6 million. 

This could have a pretty detrimental effect on where collegiate level athletes are applying to colleges, and how the best of the best will go to the west, making the east weaker. 

Many college alumni such as Tim Tebow do not support the passing of the bill because “it’s not about us anymore, it’s not about we it’s about me”. He is saying that instead of helping the college thrive as a whole and having team spirit, it becomes an individual matter.

When players begin to make money they become selfish, and their playstyle changes as a whole which could affect the whole league drastically and each individual teams playstyle. 

Most sports commentators think that the passing of this bill will have a negative effect on the league.