I read that an Alabama QB has already locked up a million or so in endorsement deals. I also heard about kids still in high school that are now raking in endorsement deals. The fact that the NCAA had the power to keep these kids from making life changing money so early in life is absolutely ridiculous.
I know some will argue that if the kids wanted to make money of their NIL then they would have just needed to avoid the NCAA, but in some sports, football in particular, if you don’t go through the college ranks, your chances of making it to the NFL are basically zero.
There is no other area of human life that functions like sports in America did for so so so long. In what other area are you expected to practice for thousands of hours for your entire childhood, spending pretty much every minute of free time you have dedicated to your sport, while also focusing enough on school that you do well enough to get into a college… Then you are expected to do the same, even more in college… All of this without being allowed to get paid ONE RED CENT for that entire time… unless of course you get another job (that can’t have any connection with any notoriety you may have gained due to your sports related notoriety) to work alongside the schooling and countless hours of practice.
Yes, they give you a college education (costs more and more each year but is somehow simultaneously worth less and less) and a place to stay, and minimal amounts of nourishment, and while the value of all of that is far more than some student athletes would be able to make off of NIL, there are some student athletes who could have been making faaaaar more money IN HIGH SCHOOL had they not feared the NCAA. Even if most student athletes won’t make money off of NIL stuff in college or beforehand, the mere fact that they WERE NOT ALLOWED TO DO IT in order to participate in NCAA sanctioned sports is completely bonkers.
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