The "poor condition."

Posted on: April 29, 2020 at 17:46:57 CT

Tigertix seems to believe that because some athletes grow up poor and aren't prepared to handle immediate wealth, no one should be able to get paid. He cites lottery winners going broke, but I suspect he wouldn't be in favor of government salary restrictions to protect us from ourselves.

I actually think you're wrong about who will be affected by endorsements. The major endorsement deals? That'll be a relatively small number. But I'd bet on the vast majority of athletes finding income in some fashion. The new rules don't just allow for endorsement contracts. They also allow for appearance fees and profiting via social media.

Under the old rules, a softball player, for example, couldn't get paid for showing up at a summer camp. Now, though, a softball travel team in Boonville or wherever could hold a summer camp and pay a Mizzou player to attend for an afternoon. Will she get rich from that? Certainly not. But she could earn enough side money to make it worthwhile. That's not allowed right now. Any athlete in any of the smaller sports could probably pick up a significant summer side income (for a college student looking for beer money, a little cash to buy a new XBox, or similar college stuff kids do) from that sort of thing.

The social media allowance is even bigger. Under current rules, players cannot monetize their social media. UCF had a kicker who lost his scholarship when he was forced to choose between a YouTube channel he'd had since high school and a scholarship. He chose the income. Even a moderately popular YouTube channel or instagram profile can earn some income. It's not all ad money, either. A lot of people set up YouTube channels and take donations. A college athlete in just about any sport could easily generate real income this way. (The UCF guy was a backup kicker on a winless team.)