OSU would benefit? Really? This is what OSU athletic director Gene Smith had to say about it. Sounds like a man who knows his goose is cooked. Ohio will not be able to compete with California for sponsorship $$$, and Gene Smith **** well knows it.
“If the California law goes into effect in ’23,” Smith said Tuesday, "...who’s going to play (California schools)? We’re certainly not. They won’t be members of the NCAA. I think that’s going to be the problem."
During a follow-up interview Wednesday, Smith addressed a question about whether the NCAA’s schools would take a position on California schools’ membership that would result in the association essentially walking away from the California economic market.
“I’m a single vote in that,” he said. “My guess is our membership would say yes because one of our principles is fair play, and even in the working group that I’m on, we’re focused on trying to make sure we deal with this in a fair-play way – as best as we can have a level playing field. We know it’s unlevel in a lot of ways, but this could make it unbelievably unlevel. So, my position would be, yes, and actually I would really be interested in how the Pac-12 (Conference) will handle those schools who are not in California that are members of the Pac-12. And how those schools will compete against those schools in California who have an unfair advantage because they’ll be able to offer student-athletes benefits that the other schools will not be able to offer. So, yeah, my position would be we walk…"
Ohio State AD says if California bill passes to help athletes make money off name and likeness, schools in state "won't be members of the NCAA."
www.usatoday.com
