California positioned to 'turn the tide' in the NCAA: Agent
DLE Agency founder Doug Eldridge on the debate over college athlete pay.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom's recent decision to upend the status quo of the NCAA by signing a law that allows student-athletes to financially benefit from their likeness has fueled debates around the country. The law makes complications for the NCAA and other states to sort out.
DLE Agency founder Doug Eldridge shared his insight into the law.
"I think, in the short term, California is certainly going to get some opposition from the NCAA, but I think we're looking at the possibility of unprecedented times moving forward," Eldridge told FOX Business' Neil Cavuto on Tuesday's "Cavuto: Coast To Coast."
Eldridge said California's large economy and 40 million people could make them the ideal state to try and take on the NCAA.
"I think they're well-positioned to completely turn the tides and redefine how we look at amateurism and the notions of, quote-unquote, student-athlete — a term, by the way, was defined and created by the NCAA to begin with."
In fact, the first NCAA executive director Walter Byers coined the term "student-athlete" in 1964 in order to avoid a worker's compensation lawsuit. However, Eldridge argues the college athletics economy has changed drastically since then.
"We're taking a billion-dollar entity and the players are ultimately the ones that lose out," Eldridge said.
Until now, scholarship athletes have been unable to financially profit from their name and likeness. In the past, even getting tattoos or selling gear has led to infractions from the NCAA.
Eldridge raised the point that about 1 percent fo college basketball players make it to the NBA and only about 2 percent of college football players make it to the NFL, which means the overwhelming majority of collegiate athletes don't turn pro.
"So, we're not talking about hundreds of thousands of athletes hitting that marketing crescendo, but there certainly are some that will be able to."
"My issue is not the notion of a fair market value but the free market valuation," Eldridge said.
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Eldridge expects other states to follow in California's footsteps.
FOX Business' Kristian Dyer contributed to this report.