FL Gov. Signs Bill Allowing Student Athletes To Get Paid For Ads

FLORIDA, FL — Some 11,000 college athletes in Florida will soon be able to profit from their dazzling end zone catches and high-flying basketball acrobatics starting next year under a bill signed into law Friday by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

"I viewed it as something that was out of fairness," DeSantis said at the University of Miami football practice field where he signed the measure into law. "We're not talking about if you get a scholarship to Florida State, or Miami, that the universities are going to pay you to play. That's not what we're talking about."

The legislation allows college athletes — not just in football or basketball but rather all sports— to make money from advertisements, video games and other endorsement deals starting in July of 2021. That money had previously gone to their schools.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a similar first-in-the-nation law on Sept. 30, 2019 that paved the way for college athletes to hire agents and make money from endorsement deals with sneaker companies, soft drink makers, car dealerships and other sponsors. But the California law won't take effect until 2023.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association initially opposed the California measure, arguing that it would destroy the distinction between amateurs and pros and give California an unfair recruiting advantage. The organization's top governing board subsequently voted unanimously to give student athletes the opportunity to benefit financially from the use of their name, image and likeness.

Under the Florida measure, student athletes will have the same ability to profit from their likenesses as would a student who earns money as a professional model. It will make the biggest difference for athletes who train all their lives in a particular sport but never get the opportunity to play professionally because of an injury or some other reason.

"If you have a situation where you have some of the great athletes in sports like football or basketball, whose image and likeness is being used to make millions and millions of dollars, if they don't even have the opportunity to get any of that, then there's something fundamentally unfair with that," DeSantis said.

The Florida governor was joined by former New Orleans Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma, who played for the University of Miami and former Pro Bowl player Corey Simon who played eight seasons in the NFL, including for the Philadelphia Eagles, after first hitting the field for Florida State University.

Florida's measure allows an intercollegiate athlete at a postsecondary educational institution to get paid for the use of their name, image, or likeness and prohibits a postsecondary institution from preventing their athletes from earning that money, or from compensating, or causing compensation to be directed to a current or prospective athlete.

The measure prohibits an athlete from entering into a contract that conflicts with a term of the athlete’s team contract. The measure also requires athletes to disclose their contracts to their schools. Colleges are required to conduct a financial literacy and life skills workshop at the beginning of the athlete’s first and third academic years.

“It was absolutely wrong to prevent these adults from earning compensation on their own name, image, or likeness,” added Florida Representative Kionne McGhee, who helped craft the legislation. “These athletes have a limited window to earn compensation on their athletic careers, using their incredible skills to support themselves and their families."

The governor said he was sitting at a college football game last year and realized band members could profit from their music skills but the players could not profit from their sports skills.

"I remember we were at one of the college games this past year and I saw the band come out," the governor recalled. "I thought to myself, any one of those band members could do a YouTube channel and make a lot of money as a student. No one would say anything."