College football season is just around the corner and that means the money is flying.
But these are amateur “student athletes.” It’s not about the money!
OK, stop screaming.
But the NIL (name, image and likeness) business has taken off for players, bolstered by antitrust court rulings, so unless you’re making at least $100,000 a year, especially as a star DI quarterback or running back, you’re missing out on a moneymaker.
And NILs are just the beginning. Courts say football programs will soon have to share their departments’ actual revenue with players. Power schools are expected to have to pay out $22 million to players as early as 2025.
New battle cry for the championship: “Get rich or die trying!”
When it comes to money, we always start with Colorado coach “Neon” Deion Sanders, who is basically defined by money and knows how to get it out of areas others might not dare venture into. Yes, there are his usual Aflac signs and sponsored headsets. But recently, one of his assistants actually traveled to Saudi Arabia to look for zero oil money.
Why not? LIV Golf gets money from Saudi Arabia. The same goes for many of our best universities.
Neon’s son, Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders, has a NIL value of $4.7 million, according to the ON3.com player database. LSU quarterback Bryce Underwood is at the top at $1.3 million. And Arch Manning of Texas, scion of the Manning quarterback breeding factory, is worth $3.1 million.
This is all about advertising, promotion, recognition and, yes, potential. After all, 19-year-old sophomore Manning has completed just two passes for the Longhorns in his short career.
So let’s look at the above photo of these four Iowa State football players: “Purchase. Moore. Hamman. Bacon.” Lined up these guys was some genius marketing by the Iowa Pork Producers Association. Well done, hog farmers.
So players can and should get creative when it comes to making money. I’m not sure what the Iowa State guys got for their efforts – maybe just a lot of meat – but you know it was worth it to compete and sell some pork.
Players only spend four years in college, and if they do it right and get lucky, they can have a nice nest egg the day they leave campus. If you’re not NFL-level and college is your end goal, you might want to get that fire lit while the light is still burning.
Having played college basketball myself ages ago, I was decades before monetization. Taking $50 was taboo back then and enough to get you sent off the court in disgrace. But if I were playing today, I’d be all over the place with ads, promos, and so on.
Vienna beef springs to mind. As loyal readers know, I love hot dogs. A poster of me in my Wildcats uniform, grinning like a madman, balancing half a dozen hot dogs on my forearm, two or three more in my belly – a piece of cake. Unfortunately, it will never happen.
I looked at college rosters to think of other naming possibilities, like the Iowa Pork. Not all schools print their players’ names on the back of their jerseys, but they definitely should.
In Illinois I met Joe Barna and Matthew Bailey. “Barna and Bailey.” Does the circus still exist?
I also saw Nick True and Ca’Lil Valentine. Maybe True Valentine would be good for the Hallmark Channel or the Whitman’s Sampler.
At Northwestern University, I got Braxton Strong and Cole Shivers. “Strong Shivers” – the perfect advertisement for the next “Halloween” movie. And then there was Najee Story and Jack Florentine, who do “Florentine Story,” which could be used to advertise any movie about Michelangelo, da Vinci or Guccio Gucci.
When I checked Iowa, I found big tight end Hayden Large and running backs coach Ladell Betts. “Large Betts” for FanDuel or DraftKings? Yes, coaches should wear name tags too. I also found an Iowa linebacker named Kelby Telander. My last name on his back. Cool.
I looked at Rutgers and saw Shaquan Loyal and Terrence Salami. Come on, Tyson Foods, lure shoppers with a “Loyal Salami” campaign.
Now it’s possible that the best Iowa pork-style genius combination comes from Michigan, where I found two classics. Noah Howes, Brandon Mann, Grayson Dee and Cole Cabana make up “Howes Dee Cabana, man?” Perfect for a Sandals-like resort in Jamaica. And then this great lineup: Dee, TJ Guy, Shomari Stone and Chibi Anwunah. “Anwunah Stone Dee Guy.” Maybe for a marijuana company?
And finally Ohio State, which never gives up peacefully to Michigan: We have Jason Moore, James Peoples, Julian Sayin and Kayden McDonald. “Sayin Moore McDonald Peoples.”
Guys, Big Mac, are you listening?
