The University of Kentucky team was among the favorites for the basketball championship this spring. But she surprisingly failed in the first round against an outsider.
The best player was not at fault. Oscar Thsiebwe from the Congo, 2.10 meters tall and the lynchpin of the team, delivered. And despite the defeat, he was named best college basketball player of the year.
Normally, at 22, he would be a formidable candidate for the NBA. But he decided otherwise. On the advice of a higher authority, as he told sports broadcaster ESPN: “God told me he wants me to come back and keep working on myself, so I’ll be there in Kentucky next year.”
College athletes can market privacy rights
Why not? After much back and forth, in which courts and legislators from California to Georgia had intervened, the amateur statute, which had been consistently implemented for decades, was buried a year ago. Since then, college athletes have been able to freely market their personal rights.
For some young stars like Thsiebwe, the new advertising opportunities are extremely lucrative. According to media reports, he signed contracts for the equivalent of 3 million euros. And he even elegantly circumvents a huge problem.
Actually, the new earning opportunity only applies to American athletes. The student visa for foreigners expressly denies them any job or any form of business activity. But Thsiebwe and his managers found a way out. So in August he flew to the Bahamas to settle business there. And at the same time shooting commercials like this one for a thoroughbred horse breeder from Kentucky.
Not only young male talents – especially in the popular sports of football and basketball – benefit. Also female athletes, who otherwise tend to be overshadowed by men in the fight for attention.
Azzi Fudd ‘next icon in women’s basketball’
The most prominent example: two basketball players at the University of Connecticut, a successful team. Each of them is heading for the first million gross. One – Paige Bueckers – thanks in part to advertising partners such as the well-known beverage company “Gatorade”. The other – Azzi Fudd – because she was able to sign with the company that markets ball magician Steph Curry from the NBA club Golden State Warriors. His prediction: The 19-year-old will be “the next figurehead in women’s basketball”: “We want to think outside the box and create opportunities to act as a mentor to pave the way for Azzi early on. Hopefully I can help her with that be.”
How big is the new market? Getting an overview is difficult, says Erica Hunzinger, a reporter for the Associated Press news agency who has been following the topic for a while: “There is no central point where all the information is collected. If you want to get any idea, there are only three or four intermediaries who are willing to publish their figures. You have to collect the data from different sources.”
Highest contracts in soccer and men’s basketball
After all, at least the sketch of a huge overall market with thousands of individual contracts was created. “For the first year beginning July 1, 2021, an estimate was $917 million. The amount could be higher or lower. Insiders say the second year will be worth billions. Football and men’s basketball have the most and highest-paying contracts.”
Information about the average value of the individual deals vary between 1500 and 3400 dollars. More than nothing. And a bonus to the scholarships that college athletes receive. But not enough to make big jumps.
It is different with the highly traded young stars. Their market value influences competition and makes coaches, hitherto the undisputed demigods of collegiate sports, nervous. They earn exorbitant amounts of money.
Hunzinger: “It’s very interesting to see how all the money has changed the situation for college coaches. Before the football season started, coaches were nagging at each other. They fear that the new system will lead to players being bullied because of the money change university.”
As a result, the many dollars slow down exceptional talents who switch to the professionals all too early for purely financial reasons. Which is only right for the millions of fans of this sport.