We all wanted Andrew Wiggins or Anthony Davis to stay in college so their respective teams might win a NCAA Championship. However, they are only two of many college athletes that are one and done or, two and done. To solve this problem of getting players to stay,?Shawn Fojtik came up with the idea of player crowd funding.
The site FanAngel would allow people to donate money which in turn would be given to the player after his or her eligibility expires.?Fojtik came up with idea after the Chicago Bears couldn’t bring Brian Urlacher back for the money that he wanted.
Fojtik says that:
“When a fan commits a pledge to an athlete, that money is immediately taken out of the account. Eighty percent of the money will be held for that athlete if that athlete does choose to stay in school, 10 percent will be given to that athlete’s teammates, and 10 percent will be earmarked for charity and scholarship funds. The money is given to the athlete when that athlete’s eligibility expires”.
Also, FanAngel will take 9% for organizing the transaction. The goods news is that if the athlete does not stay in school the money will be refunded.
But there is one problem, or hurdle, that FanAngel might run into, and that is the NCAA. The NCAA issued a statement in November that said crowd funding sites cannot use the names of the athletes to promote the sites because it would compromise the athletes eligibility. Furthermore, the NCAA said that even money in escrow is still a violation, such as the case with Ed O’Bannon.
Funny thing is that this statement comes from an organization that made $876.1 million?from 2011-2012 by using players names in their sources, yet a few thousand dollars would jeopardize an athletes eligibility.
But Fojtik says his site bypasses all NCAA guidelines about money in escrow or “gifts.” As?Fojtik explains:
“There’s no acceptance on the athlete’s part, and we aren’t specifically promoting any athletes,” he said. “We are using their name as anyone would as part of fair use.”
Fojtik met with the NCAA and said he used?some of the ideas from the discussion. Unfortunately, the organization still does not?support his idea.
Regarding this situation, Fojtik says:
“We have a lot in common with them, we want the same thing as them — for kids to stay in school, to end the one-and-dones or the ‘two-and-throughs.’ But we aren’t a constituent of [the NCAA], so we’re not subject to their rules.”
While we don’t know whether or not Fojtik’s plan to fund players will work, we do know that it?will get?under the skin of the NCAA, which is?always a good thing to knock them off their pedestal. For the sake of interesting business plans, I hope FanAngel soars.
