Prior to Tuesday’s press conference, Auburn head basketball coach Bruce Pearl was prepared to answer questions regarding the youth of his team.
This year's team looks to bounce back from losing key players like Jared Harper and Chuma Okeke, and the first Final Four berth in program history. It's safe to say the topic of paying college athletes wasn't at the top of the list in regards to this year's storylines.
The fourth year head coach expressed his excitement for the proposed Fair Pay to Play Act, which passed in the state of California in September. The act was passed last month in efforts to allow college athletes receive financial compensation for their names and likenesses, somewhat ending NCAA amateurism.
"One of the things that has just gotten lost in this whole discussion is how much the NCAA has done in a positive way," Pearl said Tuesday. “There is a true cost of attendance. There is a lot of cost involved in going to college that aren’t in just room, board, and books.”
The law would not force the colleges, conferences or the NCAA to pay athletes in any new way. It would empower college athletes to negotiate their own contracts with third parties over the commercial use of their names, image and likenesses.
“We’ve now given them (student athletes) a scholarship that allows them to not work, because this is their work.”
The law will not go into effect until January 2023, 40 months from now.
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