One $hining Moment: Players can cash in on NCAA success
BUFFALO, N.Y. — This March Madness, basketball players can monetize their shining moments.
The NCAA lifted its ban last summer on athletes earning money off their name, image and likeness. Since then all kinds of business opportunities have sprung up from modest online endorsement deals to national sponsorship campaigns to booster-funded collectives that can pay athletes thousands of dollars.
The NCAA Tournament is a chance for new stars to emerge, such as New Mexico State’s Teddy Allen.
Allen scored 37 points in an upset over UConn on Thursday, flexing, dancing and waving goodbye to the Huskies fans.
By Friday night, there were T-shirts and hooded sweatshirts available for purchase online with a graphic of Allen, the words “BYE BYE” and the score and date of the Aggies’ first NCAA Tournament victory since 1993.
“Everyone understands how crucial it is to really capitalize on the moment in the moment. As this is happening. As it’s the talk of the town. As it’s trending on Twitter. That’s the time to really make a strong post,” said Hunter Pomerantz, co-founder of The Players Trunk, an online merchandise store for college athletes to sell their gear and memorabilia.
Pomerantz, a former student-manager for the Syracuse basketball team, said The Players Trunk reaches out to athletes and offers them a contract to make a cut of the sales of the apparel. He declined to say what percentage goes to the players.
The shirts sell for $29.99 and the sweatshirts go for between $49.99 and $59.99. Pomerantz said the contract covers only sales of the gear and all they ask of the athletes is to promote the merchandise on their social media accounts.
Even before the tournament began, The Players Trunk started making money on March Madness.
The company produced shirts and hoodies for Wisconsin guard Chucky Hepburn,
whose bank shot in the final seconds against Purdue sealed the Big Ten regularseason title for the Badgers, and Chattanooga’s David Jean-Baptiste, who sent the Mocs to the NCAA Tournament with a long buzzerbeater in the Southern Conference championship game.
Selling merch is just the tip of the earning potential for March’s shooting stars.
Jim Cavale, CEO of INFLCR, a company that works with thousands of college teams and athletes on a range of NIL programs, said there is a potentially lucrative market for March Madness related NFTs and digital collectibles.
But that takes planning and coordination and the current state of the NIL market is not set up to allow athletes to efficiently take advantage.
The NCAA does not have uniformed, detailed rules governing NIL compensation. The association has instructed its member schools to follow state laws where applicable or to create their own rules in states without legislation.