By Harper Goldfarb | Special to the Observer
OPINION – College athletics as a whole scored a major win this summer in California. Assembly Bill 252, the College Athlete Protection Act (CAPA) has been delayed and will not be considered until June of next year. This delay offers a reprieve to college athletes in many sports, allowing additional time to reassess what this misguided bill would have done.
The primary flaw in CAPA is its initially proposed revenue sharing model, requiring that collegiate student-athletes in California receive payment through direct payments from their universities. While seemingly beneficial to student-athletes on its face, the impact on non-revenue sports is catastrophic.
Although men’s football and basketball are high revenue-generating sports programs, the reality is that these programs fund dozens of women’s and Olympic sports at universities in California and across the country which do not generate the same amounts of revenue.
Simply put, CAPA is a direct threat to the collegiate sports landscape and the athletes competing in it. CAPA would mandate that a significant portion of a sports team’s revenue be allocated directly to paying its players, which will cut available funding for all non-revenue-generating programs significantly. CAPA’s sponsors seem uninterested in the crippling effect this will have on athletic departments that now only have half of their budget to support the women’s and Olympic sports that do not generate revenue.
If scaling back and potentially eliminating non-revenue generating sports wasn’t problematic enough, CAPA’s provisions go even further in instituting an extensive regulatory oversight and enforcement structure wherein the state legislature can micromanage college athletic departments.
It’s clear why the Women’s Sports Foundation, and the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee, among other sport governing bodies, have been vehemently against CAPA – it could threaten their very existence. To that end, it’s no surprise that dozens of Assembly Members refused to vote on this legislation, with a majority of them being women.
As we are seeing in states across America, there’s an ongoing arms race to pass laws giving local teams an edge. Had California passed CAPA, it would have only been a matter of time until other states followed suit with revenue sharing models of their own in order to remain competitive with California.
As a former female Olympic sport athlete, I hold my days as a Division I athlete near and dear to my heart. I made lifelong friends, pursued my passion, and graduated with a world class education. It was a transformative experience that I am truly grateful for, and I want future generations of women and Olympic athletes to have this same opportunity. It took decades to pass Title IX and give women a fair chance to compete in collegiate athletics, and CAPA’s provisions would put this progress in serious jeopardy.
I am encouraged that CAPA’s sponsors are taking the time to consider the ramifications of this legislation instead of rushing it to the floor for a vote. When it reemerges for consideration, I sincerely hope it will be struck down for good.
Providing collegiate athletes an opportunity to benefit from their NIL is long overdue, but it has to be done the right way, and not at the expense of women’s and Olympic sports.