The Capitol in Sacramento.
(Christopher Boswell)
It’s hard to know. It has a long way to go, it has to go through the Senate, then through a group of Assembly committees, then through the Assembly before moving to the governor’s desk.
The bill has already been amended. The original called for Title IX protections and mechanisms to be put in place to curb the elimination of non-profit sports, but those parts were removed to focus fully on revenue sharing.
Given the massive implications for athletic department budgets as currently written, there have already been discussions about changing the payment structure to give schools the flexibility to distribute only the new revenue (which increases by ‘year after year) to the players.
In this case, let’s say USC football made $10 million more in 2022 than in 2021. All earnings would then go toward the players’ graduation funds – $117,650 each – but the department could continue to use the same amount. amount from 2021 to finance the rest of its sports and avoid the apocalyptic scenario.
If a program didn’t increase its revenue in a year, the players would receive nothing.
One thing to consider is that the Pac-12 will be renegotiating its media rights contracts for 2024, which should generate significantly more conference revenue.
If SB 1401 becomes law, much of that windfall could flow back to athletes and quickly make them whole, so to speak, by working toward the bill’s requirement of a 50/50 split.
It seems likely that if the bill passes, it would implement something like this new revenue option, as it would give schools a chance to maintain their current level of operation.
