LeBron James Player Supports The Compensation Bill for Amateur Athletes
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NBA basketball superstar LeBron James severely criticized the NCAA on Wednesday, after the United States campus sports authority reminded the California governor to reject a bill that required athletes-students to be paid for their use the name, image, and likeness of the campus athlete.
The California state legislature has submitted the bill to California Governor Gavin Newsom to be signed into law. The NCAA has asked Newsom not to sign this bill because it is deemed unconstitutional and injured through a letter signed by NCAA President Mark Emmert and 21 members of the state’s governing council.
“If this bill becomes law and 58 NCAA campuses in California are forced to allow unlimited name, image and likeness schemes between campus athletes and professionals because this bill gives unfair recruitment benefits to the campuses, it will make them ultimately unable to appearing in NCAA competitions, “the NCAA wrote in the letter.
James, who has expressed support for the bill, responded to the NCAA letter via Twitter. “Our thanks to this bill you can work with all people in creating national policies that are fair to athletes,” the star wrote on his Twitter account.
The NCAA’s rules about matches and amateur athletes are to forbid campus athletes from being paid for their performances and get compensation for their names, images or similarities, even though their performances make millions of dollars on several campuses.
The California Bill prohibits campuses from paying college athletes directly, but only allows students to receive compensation from other sources such as video game companies or memorabilia.
Legislators who support this bill see injustice against campus athletes from the rules applied by the NCAA. The California bill will ban the NCAA from issuing a campus competition ban if campus athletes receive compensation starting in January 2023.
“Forget the shoes and video game contracts, NCAA athletes cannot make money during the training of young athletes in the summer, cannot promote their social media, cannot be a sportswear motel, may not accept groceries or boarding or equipment rental assistance, “Said one of the legislators, Kevin Kiley, as quoted by AFP.
