(CNBC) — The NCAA is embracing “change” and starting the process of allowing student-athletes to profit off of their name, image and likeness, the organization announced on Tuesday.
The organization’s top governing board voted unanimously to allow college athletes to be compensated, though the NCAA’s three divisions must still craft their own rules and detail the specifics.
The decision is a major shift for the organization, which had historically been steadfast in prohibiting college athletes from being paid, in order to preserve the organization’s amateurism rules. The organization sent a letter to California’s Gov. Gavin Newsom earlier in September opposing the state’s “Fair Play to Play Act,” arguing that it would “upend [a] level playing field for all student-athletes.”
