OH MY GOD! IT'S HAPPENING!!!! NCAA Is Getting Closer To Allowing Players To Profit From Endorsements
[AP] - If adopted, the rules would allow athletes to make sponsorship and endorsement deals with all kinds of companies and third parties, from car dealerships to concert promoters to pizza shops, according to a person who has reviewed the recommendations. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Thursday because the details were still being discussed and debated.
No school-branded apparel or material could be used by athletes in their personal endorsement deals, according to the recommendations reviewed by the person who spoke to the AP. Athletes would be required to disclose financial terms of contracts to their athletic departments, along with their relationships with any individuals involved.
Finally! Fucking finally! We might finally see the NCAA realize it's 2020 and in order to be a smart organization they need to let these guys and girls profit off of their own name, image and likeness. I don't even have a problem with them not using school-branded apparel or material. It'll keep everyone happy. Those who say 'they only know these people because of the school' well, we will find out just how much a player is worth.
This is exactly what college basketball needs though. Besides the fact that I just firmly believe players deserve to be able to make money on their own NIL, it'll help keep fringe guys in college basketball. Use Ty-Shon Alexander for instance. He's as 50/50 as it gets to being drafted this year. If he returned to Creighton they are a top-5ish preseason team. Do you know what is the No. 1 thing in Omaha? Creighton basketball. They fill 17,000 people in that arena every single game. Let's say Alexander gets a 2-way contract this year and makes $125,000 - nothing to scoff at. But what if he was able to make let's say $50,000 for a year at Creighton while trying to improve his draft stock and play for a national title contender. I'd be willing to bet more of those types of guys would hang around another year.
That said, of course the NCAA can't fully let go of it all.
The NCAA would create a mechanism to evaluate potential deals for fair market value and spot possible corruption. An athlete could compromise their eligibility for failing to disclose details of a financial agreement or relationship, the person said.
Spare me the corruption bullshit. That's just the way the NCAA wants to still have some sort of control over this. Limit the school apparel, sure, that's fine. But who gives a shit who you are working with? If someone wants to pay you for an endorsement it shouldn't matter who or how much. Spare me the 'well a booster could do this for recruiting.' Uhh, what's going to change? The best football players won't go to Alabama, LSU, Georgia or Ohio State? The best basketball players won't go to Kentucky, Duke or Kansas? Imagine the world where the best players go to those schools.
Finally the other thing they are working on passing is allowing transfers to not have to sit out a year the first time they transfer. Good! I don't care that it could potentially hurt college hoops because the way teams are the best early on is either they have loaded talent or they get old, stay old - think Virginia/Nova. Teams use a transfer to get used to the system for a year and then come out as a redshirt junior. But we shouldn't punish a kid for being able to transfer. I don't care if coaches don't like it. It's part of the job. You're getting paid pretty, pretty good to deal with shit like this. So deal with it.
Again, this is a no-brainer. I've said multiple times that schools pay players enough with the scholarships. But limiting what players can make - some of which are at the peak of their marketability in college - is just stupid. It doesn't hurt anything with the game. It doesn't change anything with the game. If a player is getting paid $100,000 they still have to go out on the court or field and show up. Not like recruiting is going to change. The talent is still going to go to the same programs.
Let's just get this official.