Celebrity endorsements.....

[Mike Stafford]

I am sure many of you are aware that the NCAA has given its blessing to college athletes being paid. This occurred in July 2021. The colleges themselves cannot pay the athletes but boosters can and the athletes can make business deals with private companies to use their likeness and provide endorsements.

Being someone who doesn't give a hoot or a holler about college sports I had not paid much attention to this momentous change in policy.

I was in the shop listening to my radio as I usually do when I heard this young man come on during a break in the program I was listening to. He was acting as a spokesman for an HVAC company. He said that he had trust in this company and their ability to do a good job. He mentioned his name.

Well, I had no idea who this young feller was but I remembered his name and decided to Google it when I went in the house. It turns out that he is the starting quarterback for a major college football team here in N.C. He is a sophomore and is 20 years old.

I don't know about you but I don't know many 20 year old snot-nosed kids who know an HV from an AC. I doubt seriously this kid has ever changed the thermostat from heating to cooling at his mommy and daddy's house.

I don't pay much attention to advertisements in general but I suspect some college kid acting as a spokesman for an HVAC company will sell as many heat pumps as Dylan Mulvaney will sell cans of Bud Light and we all know how that worked out.

I am not sure I am remotely interested in the endorsement of anyone but gimme a break, a kid playing football....you gotta be kidding.

 

[David Johnson]

Really doesn't sound like amateur sports any longer. Just stepping up to the big leagues (or pay checks) They do have a point NCAA and the colleges are making huge amounts of money off these players.
David

 

[Mike Stafford]

Really doesn't sound like amateur sports any longer. Just stepping up to the big leagues (or pay checks) They do have a point NCAA and the colleges are making huge amounts of money off these players.
David

This is so true David but you will notice that the NCAA and the colleges are not giving the kids one red cent.

 

[Bill Arnold]

This is so true David but you will notice that the NCAA and the colleges are not giving the kids one red cent.

What about folks who get full ride scholarships? That's worth a heck of a lot, I reckon.

 

[Mike Stafford]

What about folks who get full ride scholarships? That's worth a heck of a lot, I reckon.

I figure that is a given for almost all college athletes these days but obviously that is not enough.

 

[Dave Hoskins]

Honestly, seeing I pay no attention to either college or pro sports anymore, I didn't know about this. Doesn't surprise me. It's all about the money now. Not the sport. I seem to recall that pro athletes were once credible role models. Not anymore, and for some time. Many will remember when the NFL went on strike way back when. That's when pro sports lost me as a spectator.

 

[Chuck Ellis]

Problem I see with the pro-players is they make a boat load of money (the big stars do anyway) and an awful lot of them are from households that lived from can to can't and never learned to handle money.... most or at least a large number of the pro players that made tons of money are broke 5 years after retiring.... you do have a few that learned to handle and manage it, but they are few and far between.

I don't have a problem with the athletes making money from their names and skills... they all have skills I don't have and likely would never have had in my youth.