“According to information received by ESPN and the Orlando Sentinel, De La Haye hasn’t received an ultimatum, per se, from UCF. It seems as though he could have to choose between the revenue generated from his videos or his amateur status as an athlete.”
Remember those NCAA commercials about how many student athletes “turn pro” in something other than sports? Here we have a guy who is a kicker at Central Florida, who also happens to be a marketing major. Now, I’m willing to bet his future is going to be in marketing as opposed to the NFL, but rather than letting him work on what will end up being his craft, NCAA rules are going to prohibit that.
First, let’s not misunderstand this fact. The rule is in place for a reason. How easy would it be for a booster to funnel money to recruits through web-based advertising or donations to their YouTube or blog? Extremely easy, but I doubt anyone is going to spend a ton of money trying to give an extra benefit to UCF’s kicker. Some other players? Sure, I could see it.
On the other hand, doesn’t the fact that rule is even necessary point to the larger problem? Why, if the NCAA wants us to focus on how many student-athletes are just playing sports while they earn their degrees and go on to something else, is there so much money in NCAA sports?
If it weren’t for big money corruption in the NCAA, this kid could be out doing his side hustle on YouTube like everyone else in the world. But since he wants to also be an athlete, he can’t. Not because he would be getting anything, but because some other kid could. Some kid who is going to eventually play in the NFL, and stands to make the University a lot of money in the mean time.
The whole system smells fishy. Why can’t student athletes be just that, students who play athletics, and athletes who happen to be in college because the NFL doesn’t think they’re old enough, be plying their craft somewhere and getting paid for it?
Not because the colleges need scholarship money, I can tell you that. There’d be plenty of money for the student athlete scholarships in this small money world.
What you wouldn’t have is multi-millionaire coaches, billion dollar facilities and rich NCAA and bowl reps. We can’t have some kicker from UCF messing that up, can we?
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