Eight
Member
I don't disagree and this is all great and the way it's supposed to be I guess. For me personally though, my interest level in college sports (football in particular because that's the only sport I was REALLY invested in as far as my time and money) will be a fraction of what it was. If this is the way it's going to be, all about marketing/PR and making money, it's just not all that interesting to me. We have pro sports for that, which I basically no longer watch. Maybe it's just me getting old. Maybe it's always been about making money but it didn't always feel that way, like it's starting to.
curious, if a college tennis player is being payed by head or babolat to use their racket how does that change your interest in the sport?
if a college track athlete gets paid to run in a certain pair of shoes how does that change your interest in the sport?
do you enjoy the ncaa men's basketball tournament because cbs is not paying the players in their closing montage for the use of their images any more than if the players were to get paid?
college sports are a business with only one exception from the pro leagues and that is the participants aren't getting paid to play the sport and please no one say the athletes aren't forced to do it etc.....college sports is a billion dollar business
the only thing this has done is allow an athlete to profit off their name, image, and likeness and i think people are focusing way, way too much on the primary team sports with these new changes.
most of this board has no clue who athing mu is (please no jokes about the name), but nike sure as hell does because they signed a deal with her that will pay her an estimated $500K a year to wear and endorse their gear.
in the future, would someone like mu stay at atm if they can get paid to endorse gear? maybe, maybe not. that remains to be seen and yes it will be a smaller group that gets paid, but i think some are thinking of this in too concrete terms and not the possibilities
if mu cost nike $500K a year and they don't know yet if she will win on the international level what about spreading that money around and getting a larger number of athletes under endorsement contracts earlier in their careers when they might be cheaper and easier to get out of the contract if they don't hit?