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California officially has taken a stand against the ongoing exploitation of college athletes. And plenty of pro athletes who were exploited in college will be celebrating the change.

On Monday, California Gavin Newsom signed the Fair Pay to Play Act into law, allowing college athletes to earn money for the names, images, and likenesses beginning in 2023.

“I hope it destroys the NCAA, in general, because I think it’s corrupt, and I think it’s a bunch of people taking advantage of kids and doing it under a mask of fair play,” 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman said Monday, via NBCSportsBayArea.com.

Although the law does not allow schools to pay players, it allows players to get paid for jerseys, posters, autographs, product deals, etc.

“Colleges reap billions from student-athletes but block them from earning a single dollar,” Newsom said via Twitter. “That’s a bankrupt model.”

The message to the NCAA is simple: Adapt or die.

“It’s either going to cripple the NCAA in a way that they start to bend and make it more fair and more of a symbiotic relationship between players and the NCAA, or it’s going to destroy them and will start a whole new way of college athletics in general,” Sherman said. “I can respect that, too.”

And here’s where plenty of people who zealously defend the NCAA model for fear of having their enjoyment of college football dissolve into feelings of guilt or complicity will argue that the players get “free” educations. And here’s where those who get it point out that the cost to the schools of that “free” education pales in comparison to the revenue generated by big-time college athletics.

“If you did a cost analysis of how much each student brings in compared to what they earn in scholarship, one number would be greater than the other,” Sherman said. “The bowl executives get how much? How much does March Madness executives get? Who’s getting all that money? That’s the thing that’s so messed up is most people in the civilized world who are paying attention couldn’t tell you where the money is going.”

It’s going to everyone but the players. And it will still go to everyone but the players. With, of course, the exception of endorsement deals that currently go to coaches and broadcasters who are earning the sponsorship dollars that the players can’t.