Reactions To NCAA Decision on Amateurship
The day has finally come. College players will be able to profit from their likeness starting July 1st. It is a long day coming for college athletes who have been exploited by one of the biggest breaches of anti-trust laws in a long time.
Many athletes are thrilled.
Jordan Bohannon has already launched an apparel line as well as a meet and greet raffle for autographed memorabilia.
The rules are shaky but the are some definite concrete restrictions.
-Endorsement or compensation deals cannot be conditional on what college they attend
-There has to be some sort of exchange of goods between companies and players
-Players can have an agent
-Schools cannot be involved in individual athlete's negotiations
-Players can't have deals with alcohol, legal drugs like weed, tobacco, porn, or gambling.
Most former athletes are thrilled but interestingly some are skeptical. Former #1 recruit, elite 11 winner, Alabama transfer Blake Barnett had a different spin.
This is an interesting angle, how are players going to deal with the locker room dynamics of a QB getting big money while O-linemen who block for him get nothing. It's hard enough right now when individuals get different media attention, but when the numbers start getting shared and tempers flare, It's going to be interesting to see whether teams play as a TEAM.
This might give way to a coaching strategy that takes on the "Patriot way", and only recruit overlooked guys with no deals to create a more cohesive team without "Stars". Remember once money gets involved there will be the aspect of playing for the name on your back as opposed to the name on the front of the jersey. Not that I think the players shouldn't be paid, but college sports will forever change, not necessarily good or bad, but change.
The original social media d1 recruit was Donald Delahaye, a kicker from UCF that the NCAA said his Youtube revenue would make him ineligible for the scholarship. This was due to some of his videos being football-related and in NCAA facilities. He was the first of the "Youtuber-Tik Tok" generation to fall victim to the NCAA.
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With the new generation of Tik Tok recruits, some say they had to make this change because the bulk of high school recruits had Tik-toks large enough to be monetized. Like these freshmen on picture day. Shane_Porter has close to a million followers
This kid is a benchwarmer, but he has clout and can monetize his account and score endorsements. We talk about what happens when the "Good Football Players" get paid big money, but what happens when the biggest earner on the team is a walk-on? Maybe the problems Blake Barnett alluded to get balanced out, the scrubs get paid and the best players get paid, both have the clout for different reasons. Could be an equalizer.
Others reacted to the retroactive reinstatement of those who played and suffered penalties or missed out on these opportunities.
Reggie Bush comes to mind of those who suffered from these rules. Many other autograph signers, likeness monetizers will hopefully get retribution.
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Rutgers has started a program in order to help athletes with managing their likeness and "Protecting their brand". The "R-edge" program might be a huge asset in recruiting if the program can show it is helping athletes maximize their likeness and profitability.
The unfortunate thing is, there are so many college stars that could have used assets gained in college to help transition their careers when professional sports did not work out.
Guys that come to mind Colt Brennan (RIP), Trent Richardson, Jamarcus Russel, Ryan Leaf.
And countless others who I can't name right now that could have really benefitted in assets that could help prevent.
Well, we are about to see a flurry of people sign to a bunch of different companies for endorsements.
Will be something to follow.
Kinda wish I sold merch in college. Might go on a merch making spree.