The state legislature last night approved Senator Nancy Skinner’s SB 906, a bill that would increase transparency in Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) transactions in California college sports and raise awareness about gender equality. SB 906 received strong bipartisan support in both the House and Senate.
“SB 206 revolutionized the multi-billion dollar college sports industry. Today, student-athletes across the country are being compensated for their talent and hard work, which is great news. However, we are also seeing an increasing number of instances where supporters of college sports have formed so-called ‘unions’ and engaged in other tactics that appear to favor men and once again disadvantage female athletes,” said Sen. Skinner, a Berkeley Democrat. “SB 906 will shine a light on NIL and help us better understand its impact on gender equality in college sports.”
SB 906 was approved unanimously by the state Senate on Wednesday night with overwhelming support in the state Assembly, 76-0. SB 906 will now head to the Governor’s desk.
Since SB 206 was signed by Governor Newsom five years ago, the world of NIL has expanded exponentially, with both male and female college athletes receiving NIL contracts of all sizes. However, the explosive growth of NIL has also given rise to private organizations loosely affiliated with universities to facilitate and provide NIL contracts to college athletes. To date, these organizations have primarily formed to support men’s college football and basketball players.
SB 906 begins to lift the veil on NIL in California by requiring associations and other entities that conduct NIL transactions of $5,000 or more per year to provide the following basic information to the college or university an athlete attends:
The amount of compensation and value of items/services provided to the student-athlete or the athlete’s immediate family. The name of the sports team the student-athlete currently plays for or will play for. The student-athlete’s gender identity. The total amount of compensation and value of items/services provided each year to all student-athletes at the institution of higher education by sport and by team gender.
California universities will now make publicly available anonymous, aggregated data on NIL contracts by sport and by gender of team. SB 906 also requires each university that sponsors or supports student-athletes on NIL contracts to disclose the value of the support by sport and by gender of team. SB 906 also requires each university to provide anonymous, aggregated data on revenue sharing with student-athletes.
“There’s an old saying that ‘sunshine is the best disinfectant,’ and we hope that the transparency measures in SB 906 will encourage associations and other NIL organizations to do the right thing and increase funding for female athletes. If they don’t and it becomes clear that university-sponsored NIL efforts are marginalizing female athletes and exacerbating gender inequality, policymakers will have the information they need to level the playing field,” added Senator Skinner, who is also chair of the California Legislative Women’s Caucus.
Senator Nancy Skinner represents the 9th Senate District and serves as Chair of the Senate Housing Committee and the California Legislative Women’s Caucus.