NCAA - Use of Likeness: Help or Hurt Buckeye Basketball?

[nomatta]

I want to start off by saying that in principle this is probably a good thing. If these athletes are going to be the sources of incredible income for various institutions, they should probably have recourse to profit from their own image.

In practice? Well, we don't really know yet. Maybe it will work smoothly and equitably. But "smoothly and equitably" rarely seems the case with anything involving the NCAA and college athletics, though. I am envisioning a multitude of legal fiascos every season, imbalance in regulation, animosity within teams over how certain players profit more than others, high school stars hiring legal teams to maximize their profits and those legal teams being yet another middle man in recruitments (and another point of access for shoe companies, agents, and boosters)... you know, the usual human crap, but maybe just another level of it as far as college sports is concerned, and a level that will be more public than the under-the-table dealings that define the current state of corruption.

As a huge blue-blood football program with all sort of resources at its disposal and a huge and impassioned fanbase, this change probably doesn't hurt OSU Football much. It might even further the separation between programs like OSU, Alabama, Clemson, etc. and the likes of the mid-tier P5 teams (not necessarily a good thing for the sport in general, mind you).

I don't know that this change will hurt OSU basketball much as it currently stands... but it's no secret that basketball is a distant second fiddle to football at Ohio State. With athletes now looking at situations where their likeness can be or become the most profitable, the blue-blood basketball programs like Duke, UK, Kansas, UNC are only going to get reinforced even more, but I think the high major programs where basketball is first and foremost and with zealous fan and alumni bases are probably also going to benefit from this change, as they are going to look like pretty lucrative environments for good basketball players. So UL, UCLA, IU, Syracuse, etcetera.

While he said he supports the change, Holtmann has had a lot of talks with Gene Smith about this change and the complexity of it, so it's going to be an extra layer of administrative oversight for him and his staff and I'm sure there will be some headaches involved at certain points. I don't overall think it is going to change how the team is run much, but recruiting could be impacted a little. I think it is going to get more difficult for programs like OSU to get T50 players. Now, if the fan support really starts to visibly increase the next couple years, then maybe that won't be the case. But at the level fan support has been at for quite a few years now, I think our recruiting is going to fall behind some programs it is currently more even with when players are looking at other environments that will offer a lot more boosters interested in endorsements and the like.

What do you guys think?

 

[nomatta]

I have not fully researched the proposed guidelines for how this is supposed to work so if anyone has some corrections to make on my perspective, I welcome them. Sincerely hope that this won't become as big of a mess as I think it will and that it will benefit the players in a fair way.

 

[OHSportsFan]

I want to start off by saying that in principle this is probably a good thing. If these athletes are going to be the sources of incredible income for various institutions, they should probably have recourse to profit from their own image.

In practice? Well, we don't really know yet. Maybe it will work smoothly and equitably. But "smoothly and equitably" rarely seems the case with anything involving the NCAA and college athletics, though. I am envisioning a multitude of legal fiascos every season, imbalance in regulation, animosity within teams over how certain players profit more than others, high school stars hiring legal teams to maximize their profits and those legal teams being yet another middle man in recruitments (and another point of access for shoe companies, agents, and boosters)... you know, the usual human crap, but maybe just another level of it as far as college sports is concerned, and a level that will be more public than the under-the-table dealings that define the current state of corruption.

As a huge blue-blood football program with all sort of resources at its disposal and a huge and impassioned fanbase, this change probably doesn't hurt OSU Football much. It might even further the separation between programs like OSU, Alabama, Clemson, etc. and the likes of the mid-tier P5 teams (not necessarily a good thing for the sport in general, mind you).

I don't know that this change will hurt OSU basketball much as it currently stands... but it's no secret that basketball is a distant second fiddle to football at Ohio State. With athletes now looking at situations where their likeness can be or become the most profitable, the blue-blood basketball programs like Duke, UK, Kansas, UNC are only going to get reinforced even more, but I think the high major programs where basketball is first and foremost and with zealous fan and alumni bases are probably also going to benefit from this change, as they are going to look like pretty lucrative environments for good basketball players. So UL, UCLA, IU, Syracuse, etcetera.

While he said he supports the change, Holtmann has had a lot of talks with Gene Smith about this change and the complexity of it, so it's going to be an extra layer of administrative oversight for him and his staff and I'm sure there will be some headaches involved at certain points. I don't overall think it is going to change how the team is run much, but recruiting could be impacted a little. I think it is going to get more difficult for programs like OSU to get T50 players. Now, if the fan support really starts to visibly increase the next couple years, then maybe that won't be the case. But at the level fan support has been at for quite a few years now, I think our recruiting is going to fall behind some programs it is currently more even with when players are looking at other environments that will offer a lot more boosters interested in endorsements and the like.

What do you guys think?

Definitely a little more interesting on the basketball side where there are only 13 scholarships and 2-3 guys can make a team Final Four contenders. I agree the schools that spend a lot already (UCLA, IU) but are losing, will find ways to put their money to better use. People in Bloomington would give up their annual income to hang another banner (their bonus checks go to propping Robert Montgomery Knight back up on the sideline).

However, I can't see a place with the resources like Ohio State- urban school, large campus/alumni, and most importantly Nike/LBJ- falling behind too far.

Blue bloods will be blue bloods, the next tier that has been longing for blueblood status may rise, but Ohio State would continue to compete a very high level and separate itself just fine.

Again, all it takes is a couple local/regional talents that know they can maximize their wealth in Columbus for a year or 2.

 

[OhioState001]

One thing to think about: we've lost several good players over the years who left early only to not get drafted and go play in Europe (LaQuinton Ross, Deshaun Thomas, Trevor Thompson). Maybe players like that stay longer now

 

[scarletmike]

One thing to think about: we've lost several good players over the years who left early only to not get drafted and go play in Europe (LaQuinton Ross, Deshaun Thomas, Trevor Thompson). Maybe players like that stay longer now

I think that's going to be a very likely outcome in basketball, and I think it will be good for the sport in general. I'd go so far as to say that if you don't look like a top 10-15 pick, you might be inclined to stick around instead of risking falling to a lower round/sent to the G-League or not get drafted at all. But that's just my gut feeling and immediate reaction to the idea.