Skinner’s Bill to Bring Transparency to NIL in College Sports Passes Legislature

The state Legislature last night approved Sen. Nancy Skinner’s SB 906, a bill that would bring transparency to name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals in California college sports and raise awareness about gender equity. SB 906 received strong bipartisan support in both the Assembly and Senate.

“SB 206 sparked a revolution in the multibillion-dollar industry of college sports. Today, student athletes across the country are receiving compensation for their talent and hard work. That’s great news. But there has also been an increase in college sports boosters forming so-called ‘collectives’ and other strategies that appear to be benefitting men and once again shortchanging women athletes,” said Sen. Skinner, D-Berkeley. “SB 906 will shine a light on NIL and give us a better understanding of NIL’s impact on gender equity in college sports.”

SB 906 won unanimous approval in the state Senate on Wednesday evening, after receiving overwhelming support in the Assembly on a vote of 76-0. SB 906 now goes to the governor’s desk.

Since SB 206 was signed by Gov. Newsom five years ago, the world of NIL has expanded exponentially, with college athletes, both men and women, scoring NIL deals, large and small. But the explosive growth of NIL has also given rise to collectives, private entities loosely affiliated with colleges and universities that facilitate or provide NIL deals with college athletes. To date, these collectives have formed predominantly to support men’s college football and basketball players.

SB 906 would begin to pull back the veil on NIL in California by requiring collectives and other entities that do NIL deals worth $5,000 or more annually to provide the following basic information to the college or university that the athlete attends:

• Amount of compensation and value of item(s)/service(s) provided to the student athlete or the athlete’s immediate family;
• Name of athletic team for which the student currently plays or the team the student athlete is expected to play;
• Student athlete’s gender identity; and
• Total amount of compensation and value of the items/services provided to all student athletes at the postsecondary institution each year by sport and gender of the team.

California colleges and universities would then make publicly available anonymous aggregated data about NIL deals, by sport and gender of the team. SB 906 would also require each college or university that helps or supports its student athletes with NIL deals to disclose the value of that support for each sport and by gender of the team. And SB 906 would require each college or university to provide anonymous aggregated data on revenue sharing with student athletes.

“There’s an old saying, ‘Sunlight is the best disinfectant.’ And hopefully, the transparency measures in SB 906 will prompt collectives and other NIL entities to do the right thing and boost funding for women athletes. And if they don’t, and college-backed NIL efforts are shown to be shortchanging female athletes and worsening gender inequity, then policymakers will have the information necessary to level the playing field,” added Sen. Skinner, who is also chair of the California Legislative Women’s Caucus.

Sen. Nancy Skinner represents the 9th Senate District and is chair of the Senate Housing Committee and the California Legislative Women’s Caucus.