California Gov. Gavin Newsome two weeks ago signed a bill into law that allows college athletes to profit from the use of their name, image and likeness. And the law expressly prohibits the Indianapolis-based NCAA, its member conferences and schools from barring players from doing so.

That's a huge change for college sports, but it didn't come out of the blue. Talk about how to compensate athletes—some of whom play a crucial role in driving ticket sales and alumni donations—has been building for several years.

Still, the NCAA has struggled to deal with the issue.

In this week's podcast, host Mason King talks through the pluses and minuses for the NCAA, college athletes and universities with reporter Anthony Schoettle, who wrote a story about the impact of the California law in the latest issue of IBJ.