Anchor Drop, April 30, 2020: Endorsements are coming

Good morning.

Well, that happened. The NCAA is finally going to allow players to profit off their name, image, and likeness, though probably not in a way that the absolutists want.

The NCAA’s news release said athletes will be allowed to appear in advertisements and can reference their sport and school, but they would not be able to use school logos or branding in those advertisements.

“It’s vitally important that we maintain some level of integrity and fairness,” Ackerman said. “We believe guardrails on boosters will help us mitigate the potential of recruiting inducements.”

This is calling the bluff of the people who wanted to open the floodgates.

See, the trick here is that the NCAA has decided it’s fine with athletes profiting off their own name, image, and likeness, but is not fine with athletes profiting off their school. There have always been absolutists on this issue who want anything to go, but it was always easy to see how this would be abused.

We’ll see what the end result is, but I like the logic here.

Meanwhile, Football Scoop broaches the subject of what would happen if Alabama is ready to play in the fall but Vanderbilt isn’t (in so many words.)

YouTube Game of the Day

How about the 2015 Maui Invitational championship game against Kansas?