With LeBron James and Ed O’Bannon seated alongside, California Governor Gavin Newsom has officially signed the Fair Pay to Play Act into law. California on Monday becomes the first state in the country to create a legal right for college athletes to be compensated for the commercial use of their identities. The signing occurred in a Los Angeles barbershop associated with James’s HBO show The Shop: Uninterrupted.
The Act is a game changer in college sports. It makes it illegal for California colleges to deny their student athletes opportunities to gain compensation for the use of their names, images and likenesses.