It is time for NCAA to get with program

A quick Google search for “Johnny Manziel Texas A&M jersey” brings up more than 200,000 results.

The first several pages are links to websites that sell the item. A No. 2 maroon football jersey still goes for more than $100 in a lot of places, even though Manziel last played for the Aggies six years ago.

It’s still baffling to think that with all the hoopla, all the popularity and all the rage over Johnny Football, the man who embodied the brand that took college football by storm never was able to capitalize on it.

During his time at College Station, Manziel was one of the best athletes in the NCAA. And like so many others who were equally gifted, he didn’t go on to reap millions at the next level.

The quarterback tried to make it in the NFL and also played in the CFL and the now-defunct Alliance of American Football.

Texas A&M made millions off its ticket-selling, hype-driving football star. Yet he didn’t see a penny of it.

As California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the Fair Pay to Play Act into state law on the set of LeBron James’ show “The Shop” on Monday morning, it was hard not to think about Manziel and A&M specifically.

Manziel serves as an excellent example of a player who could have used the law to his advantage in a major way.

Law takes effect in ’23

The California statute, which will not go into effect until 2023, has created plenty of buzz over the last few weeks. Essentially, it requires colleges and universities in California to let student-athletes sell the rights to their names, images and likenesses. It also bans the NCAA from penalizing students or the schools they attend if they hire an agent or lawyer to negotiate deals for them.

Now that it is law, rather

than a bill, the NCAA has to figure out how it will deal with the state’s mandate. While it does, more states — including Texas — should pass similar laws. It is time for student-athletes to be granted the same rights as their fellow students and be able to profit off their names and faces.

Under the new law, college athletes in California will not be paid by their universities to play. They still will receive scholarships to cover the cost of education but will not receive money from ticket sales. Many NCAA member schools will go on making millions off their athletic programs.

But now, student-athletes will have a way to benefit financially from their names, faces and likenesses being used for products, services, social media, autographs, etc.

It is unfortunate they can’t do that already.

The new law, Newsom said, gives athletes the right “to do what every other student in the university legally has the right to do.” He adds: “The only group that signs away their rights are athletes.”

A few others were present

with Newsom and James to commemorate the bill being signed. They included Diana Taurasi, who noted that the University of Connecticut still makes money off her basketball jersey.

Also on hand was gymnast and recent UCLA graduate Katelyn Ohashi, whose floor exercise video from January has been viewed on YouTube more than 64 million times. She never saw any profit from the bump in popularity she brought to her school.

“People are like, ‘You must be rich,’ ” Ohashi said. “And it’s like, ‘You know the NCAA, right?’ ”

A YouTube video that receives more than a million hits can earn anywhere between $3,000 to $10,000 in revenue, according to Business Insider. Ohashi’s video went viral, and she was not able to capitalize on it at all.

Coaches open to change

The California law won’t automatically change the way the NCAA views amateurism. And the pushback on that is already apparent. But it will at least make the organization conduct a bigger conversation.

The NCAA, its member schools and its conferences have 39 months before the law goes into effect. Chances are that other states soon will follow California’s lead. A handful already have drafted their own bills.

Texas is not one of them, and it doesn’t appear that it will be any time soon. There barely has been talk of the Fair Pay to Play Act at any of the state’s big sports programs or among Texas lawmakers.

Texas coach Tom Herman said he has gone on record as saying studentathletes need to get more for their image and likeness, but he said he doesn’t know the specifics of the California law.

In his news conference Monday, Texas A&M’s Jimbo Fisher said he needs to read more about the law, but that from what he knows so far, it is a “gamechanger.”

“It’s really going to change how things are done. That’s for sure,” Fisher said. “I am anxious to see the next step the NCAA makes, and then we will have to make the …

adjustments as to what goes on at the schools.”

Baylor coach Matt Rhule has spoken about the Fair Pay to Play Act a few times. He said it makes sense for student-athletes to be able to make money off their names and likenesses, but he thinks the NCAA needs to study it more and figure out the best way to make it work.

Challenge expected

Unfortunately, before the NCAA starts figuring out the best way to allow athletes to profit, it likely will start by exploring its legal options.

“The most likely line of legal attack would be to depict the Act as unduly interfering with interstate commerce. Article, I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution empowers Congress with the exclusive power to regulate interstate commerce,” attorney Michael McCann wrote in a piece for Sports Illustrated on Monday. “If the Fair Pay to Play Act goes into effect, it would ... force the NCAA to change its national rules so that they match those in California (or other states), allow California schools to play by different rules or expel California schools. As NCAA attorneys will stress, even if the NCAA comports with California’s new law, other states could adopt measures that conflict with those in California.”

The NCAA, in a statement released Monday morning, said, “As a membership organization, the NCAA agrees changes are needed to continue to support student-athletes, but improvement needs to happen on a national level through the NCAA’s rulesmaking process.”

For once, the NCAA is spot-on. This does need to happen on a national level.

Hopefully, the organization will realize that the Fair Pay to Play Act is the way to support studentathletes and figure out a way to make it a rule that works well for everyone involved, rather than fight California and any other state that passes a similar law.

And hopefully more states will jump on board with similar bills to keep the pressure on the NCAA to do the right thing.