04/25/24
March 07, 2021
New League Takes on NCAA, Offers $100K Salaries to Prep Stars: Overtime Elite, a new basketball league backed by a sports media company that films a lot of high school stars, plans to offer $100,000 salaries to around 30 of the top players, who will lose their high school and NCAA eligibility and play together. Players will also be given $100,000 scholarships if they decide later to attend college. This is just one challenge among several to the NCAA's grip on making big bucks on unpaid athletes.
posted by rcade to basketball at 08:37 AM - 4 comments
I don't see how they make the $6 million required to pay those salaries and honor the scholarship commitments. But it is fun to see the shamateurism of the NCAA start to crumble.
posted by rcade at 10:32 AM on March 08, 2021
It sounds like they have tons and tons of views on social media and I'm sure they would have those accounts set up to be monetized. I know that Youtube pays out less than a penny per view and with enough videos with enough views, it seems like it could really add up. And that's just one of the social media accounts. How much are those videos worth to them? Then, of course, there will be merch sales, corporate sponsorships, and maybe even a TV deal that could cover at least the player salaries. Right? Maybe I'm being pollyannish with this?
posted by NoMich at 10:52 AM on March 08, 2021
The top 30 are already receiving better compensation from Kentucky, Duke, and others. There would be no TV contract or televised games. Sounds like another ludicrous Ball empire play.
posted by cixelsyd at 11:00 AM on March 08, 2021
This sounds great, but as always, I'm afraid how this will play out in real life for the young athletes. If they really do have the best interests of the kids in mind then this would be a better alternative than the rip off mill that are the travel teams.