State Bill Would Allow NCAA Athletes to Make Money Except From Adult, 'Sin' Industries

State Bill Would Allow NCAA Athletes to Make Money Except From Adult, 'Sin' Industries

TRENTON, N.J. — "Adult entertainment" is on the list of so-called "sin" industries from which New Jersey college student-athletes would be unable to profit if a New Jersey bill is passed allowing them to capitalize on their likenesses.

Student-athletes should be allowed to earn a living, of course.

This ought to be a fairly uncontroversial opinion. Colleges and corporations make billions of dollars from collegiate athletics; coaches and athletic directors are paid millions of dollars to run the programs — in 2017, football or men’s basketball coaches at state universities were the highest-paid state employees in 39 of the 50 states — and television networks rake in enormous cash from advertisers and pay billions for broadcasting rights.

Meanwhile, student-athletes — the lifeblood of the business — only get scholarships that are subject to revocation at any time for a host of infractions, or if they have the temerity to get injured, and what the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) website describes as “opportunities and experience.” And they're housed and fed.

"Opportunities and experience" is an easy, innocuously positive thing for the entities raking in those billions to point to when the subject of paying student-athletes comes up. However, high-minded ideals  —  in this case, the idea that amateur sports should remain pure and untainted by financial consideration — are convenient strawman arguments often deployed when the billions pouring in to their pockets are threatened.

Thus, an effort began to find a way to pay athletes while removing that threat.

Some states have toyed with the idea of introducing legislation prohibiting state schools from interfering with or punishing players for capitalizing on their names, images and likenesses. Students would be able to independently make money off of their athletic exploits, and the schools wouldn't have to give up a penny of their profits.
 
In September, California became the first state to adopt such legislation when Gov. Gavin Newsom signed SB 206, the Fair Pay to Play Act, into law. Student athletes in California can now sell their names, their images and their likenesses without fear of punishment by the NCAA. They can sell their autographs, accept endorsements, and even hire agents, all of which the NCAA currently prohibits.
 
Since SB 206’s passage, several states, including the Carolinas, Florida, Ohio, Georgia, Colorado, Washington, Pennsylvania, Minnesota and New York, as well as the U.S. Congress, have legislation being considered or already in the works. The first state to actually introduce a bill was New Jersey; this morning, the New Jersey Fair Play Act was put on the floor by Democratic state senators Joe Lagana and Sandra B. Cunningham, as reported by insidernj.com.

So how is this relevant to the adult industry? The New Jersey bill, while offering similar protections for student-athletes that SB 206 does, includes language limiting the industries from which students could potentially profit. The industries named include the usual assortment of social boogeymen, such as alcohol, gambling, tobacco and e-smoking products, pharmaceuticals, controlled dangerous substances, firearms and “adult entertainment.” The California law contains no such restrictions.

What is the purpose of these restrictions? Is it to protect minors? If so, they're redundant. A beer company can’t use a minor to sell its product regardless of whether that minor plays football for Ohio State. Underage students are already protected by existing laws. So why include language at all that restricts one class of people — in this case, student-athletes — from profiting from things that anyone else of the proper legal age is free to profit from?

It doesn’t take a Herculean leap of logic to see the moral hysteria involved. 

The inclusion of adult entertainment on the prohibited list is particularly galling. While there have been attempts, covered extensively by XBIZ, to demonize the adult industry as being akin to the tobacco, firearms, or even the illegal drug trade in its supposed contribution to the decay of social order, no reputable expert on the subject takes these ideas seriously. Aside from the odd wunderkind, most college students are legal adults. If they want to pose nude, accept an endorsement from a production company or pleasure product manufacturer, sell their autograph at adult expos, or any other of the hundreds of ways in which the adult industry could benefit them, and simultaneously profit from being associated with their likeness, why shouldn’t they be allowed to? There is no logical answer to that question beyond the default stigma that for some always exists: "porn is icky." 
 
This is ridiculous. Legal sexual behavior between consenting adults should not be restricted in government legislation, especially not to interfere with otherwise legal commercial transactions.

XBIZ has reached out to the offices of senators Cunningham and Lagana for a clarification on what would define “adult entertainment” in the context of the bill, and why the restriction of legal behavior is included in a proposed law meant to expand opportunities for an exploited group of individuals. As of publication they have not responded. The full text of the bill has also not as yet been released; ambiguity as to whether the bill acts to protect students from punishment from schools themselves, from the NCAA as a governing body, or from both (as SB 206 does) should become clearer once it has been.

Read the insidernj.com article here.

Related:  

Copyright © 2024 Adnet Media. All Rights Reserved. XBIZ is a trademark of Adnet Media.
Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission is prohibited.

More News

Nebraska Legislature Passes Republican's Age Verification Bill With No Votes Against It

Nebraska’s unicameral legislature has passed the state’s version of the age verification bills being sponsored around the country by anti-porn religious conservative activists.

Performers in Meta Blacklisting Lawsuit Seek to Preserve Antitrust Claims

Adult Performance Artists Guild board officers Alana Evans, Kelly Pierce and Ruby have informed a California court that, although they want to drop their lawsuit claiming that Meta conspired with OnlyFans to blacklist rival premium fan platforms’ talent, they may still have antitrust claims that they may pursue in the future.

FSC, Co-Plaintiffs to Ask US Supreme Court to Review Constitutionality of Texas Age Verification Law

Free Speech Coalition (FSC) and its co-plaintiffs in the challenge to Texas’ controversial age verification law have filed a petition before the United States Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit asking to stay its recent upholding the law because they intend to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to review the law’s constitutionality.

FSC Vows to Fight Florida Age Verification Law

Free Speech Coalition (FSC) issued a statement vowing to continue fighting Florida’s age verification law, which was signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday as part of a comprehensive bill targeting minors’ use of social media.

Kansas Republican Aims to Create New Bureaucracy to 'Investigate' Porn Websites

Republican state legislators succeeded Monday in moving forward Kansas’ version of the age verification bills being sponsored around the country by anti-porn religious conservative activists, despite serious concerns raised by House Democrats about the cost of establishing a new bureaucracy tasked with investigating websites for pornographic content.

Industry Attorney, Free Speech Champion Clyde DeWitt Passes Away at 75

Noted industry attorney Clyde DeWitt passed away on Friday in Las Vegas at 75, according to friends and colleagues.

Texas AG Ken Paxton Sues Chaturbate, xHamster Over Controversial Age Verification Law

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed lawsuits on Tuesday against the parent companies of Chaturbate and xHamster, claiming that the sites are not complying with the state’s controversial age verification law, HB 1181.

GirlsDoPorn's Michael Pratt Extradited From Spain, Pleads 'Not Guilty'

Former GirlsDoPorn owner Michael Pratt made his first appearance in federal court Tuesday following his extradition from Spain Monday night, according to a statement released by the Department of Justice.

Missouri Republican Behind FOSTA-SESTA Renews Attack on OnlyFans

Rep. Ann Wagner, the Missouri Republican legislator who was the original architect of FOSTA-SESTA, has renewed her call for federal action against OnlyFans.

Idaho Legislature Passes Republican Age Verification Bill With Full Democratic Support

The Idaho legislature has passed the state’s version of the age verification bills being sponsored around the country by anti-porn religious conservative activists.

Show More