Poseidon wrote:
PeteRasche wrote:
You can go to Tulane and start a YouTube channel (and even talk about something interesting) and have 1000 followers and not make a cent. Or you can go to {insert name of any decently large P5 school} and start a YouTube channel where you do nothing but say "what's up" every day and have hundreds of thousands of followers and probably make a lot of money just because you are a player on that team.
In other words, the unfairness is already baked into the scheme. The schools that have been good and have large, rabid fan-bases can literally sell their recruits on how many followers they'll get on social media and how much money that translates into. Think about Notre Dame. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions. BYU... if that's allowed (I don't know). Bama, Ohio State, Texas. The rich will get richer without the school spending a cent. This is a P5 school dream.
Of course, there's also the possibility of players trying to get internet famous (and having a bigger audience from the start) and doing something really dumb to get attention. I just can't wait for the weekly "best social media post" segment during the game I'm watching.
I don't see how this gives a bigger recruiting advantage than they already have. I worry it may make a big difference in the transfer market. How so? Say a red-shirt Junior at a G5 school is all-conference. He might be more likely to grad transfer to a school where he can make money off of his likeness more easily. I do think there is a negative side to this as well. You touched on it a little. This can expose the players to more ways to be negatively impacted. I also think it may divide the locker room some in places where teams are not doing so well. It certainly incentivizes the self promotion aspect. I think that will be the biggest change for fans. Now many players will be worried about their "brand." That will take some getting used to.
Agree with all your observations. The "branding" thing especially. I'm still amazed that there is a "job" called being an "influencer" where you can make 6 figures or more, and I'd certainly say that the top recruits are going to see this as an opportunity if they are playing for a big "brand" school.
As far as a "bigger" advantage, I guess it's sorta semantics to say it's gonna grow when it really can't get much bigger, right?

But nonetheless, if being able to say "come here and you will make more money than if you went there"... that's a clear and distinct advantage, isn't it? At some point (probably immediately?), teams will have analysts looking at how much money their football players make from their likenesses and using those stats as a recruiting angle. "Our players have made on average $X,000 more per year from social media than the players for {other team recruiting the kid}". Yeah, they already have immense advantages, but I don't agree that this won't affect *anything*.