In the Wild West of Modern College Athletics, Progressive Legislation Gov. Tom Wolf Signed into Law Last Summer to Benefit Student-Athletes Could Already Be Doing More Harm than Good for the Nittany Lions
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Politically speaking, Article XX-K of PA Senate Bill 381 – an amendment to the Public School Code that permitted college athletes to profit off their Name, Image, or Likeness (NIL) – was a slam dunk on a 7-foot rim.
On June 30, 2021, Pennsylvania became the 25th state to join the popular/mostly bipartisan movement of neutering one aspect of the NCAA’s draconian amateurism provisions when Gov. Tom Wolf’s signature assured Penn State athletes could partake in the same money-making opportunities as college players in other states that already passed NIL legislation. At the time, these various state NIL laws – many of which were scheduled to go into effect two days later – offered student-athletes protection from potential NCAA violations, a luxury that student-athletes in states without NIL laws didn’t possess…yet.
Two weeks later, Wolf figuratively spiked the football by holding a press conference inside Beaver Stadium’s Club Section where — surrounded by Penn State athletes, coaches, and administrators — he told the press, “This step toward fairness for athletes aligns with changes taking place in other states…It will also help to ensure that Pennsylvania colleges and universities remain competitive to future athletic prospects.”
Yeah, um, so about that, Tom…
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