Democrats just cannot help themselves.
They’re always looking to slay any goose that lays a golden egg.
Now USC fans are furious after a state legislator targeted competitive college football programs.
Leftist politicians are always looking for “problems” to fix.
Such is the case with California Assemblyman Chris Holden.
The Democrat representing Pasadena—home of the Rose Bowl—introduced the so-called College Athlete Protection Act.
If passed, his legislation would effectively end competitive college football in the state.
Holden wants revenue-producing athletic programs to split 50% of money with the players in the sports, and each individual player would get an equal share.
For example, college football programs can have a maximum of 85 scholarship players at any given time.
Punters and Quarterbacks are not worth the same
So if the USC Trojans football program, for instance, generated $170 million in revenue, $85 million would go to the athletic department, and the other half would be split equally amongst the players.
That means the punter and the star quarterback would both make $1 million, which is preposterous.
There are so many problems with this.
First, schools don’t bring in pure profit.
Revenue from the major sports funds the entire department: coaches’ salaries, administrative salaries, travel, marketing, etc…
It would be difficult to calculate the actual net profits of each program; many of them lose money.
Moreover, Holden’s bill would face serious Title IX challenges.
Title IX says that there must be an equal number of men’s and women’s athletic programs, which means that many women’s athletic programs are being subsidized by big revenue-generating programs like football and basketball.
Holden’s “solution” to that problem is to punish any program whose coach makes more than $500,000.
So if a school pays its football coach $1 million per year and the athletic department cut non-revenue-generating programs to accommodate his salary, that school would face a three-year suspension.
Every single coach at a big-time program is making well over $1 million.
The most competitive programs pay their assistant coaches that amount.
USC head coach Lincoln Riley is making $10 million.
Holden’s legislation would essentially make it impossible for USC, UCLA, and other major programs in California to field competitive teams because they would not be able to attract top-tier coaches and assistants, thus the best players would not go there.
It would be the death knell for college athletics in California.
But that’s not what Holden is thinking about; he’s thinking about “equity.”
Stay tuned to Blue State Blues for any updates to this ongoing story.
