Look, I get it. We've been writing a whole bunch about the same topic this week. California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the state's landmark Fair Pay to Play Act into law this week, spawning copycats in a number of states. This wildfire has spread so fast that it's no longer news when another state goes ablaze.
However, I wanted to show you this poll to illustrate a point I've been making on this topic for a long time now, one that politicians across the country are now tripping over themselves to capitalize on.
According to a poll from Seton Hall's sports polling department, which bills itself as "The first and only university-based polling service in the #sportsbiz industry," 60 percent of adults endorse the idea of college athletes profiting off of their name, image and likeness. Thirty-two percent oppose, according to the 714 adults surveyed. That number spikes to 80 percent among those 18-to-29, but even 50 percent of those 60 and older are on board.
Seton Hall has tracked this issue since 2013 and found that 71 percent said scholarships were sufficient compensation at that time and 60 percent said the same as recently as 2017.
Politicians are storming the gates of the NCAA's castle partly because they believe it's the right thing to do, but they're largely doing it now because they know their constituents support them.
Thanks to the NCAA leadership's historic inaction, this has become a political process, and the public is siding with change, not the status quo.