23A- Unfair advantage

These are my top 10 best resources for my venture


1. Experience: Being a student athlete has given me the experience to know exactly why they should be compensated for what they bring to the university. I have been through the day to say grind that athletes endure and can continue to bring knowledge to the higher ups when it comes to talking to the NCAA or local businesses. This is rare because in comparison to the population, only a small percentage are student athletes and very few people have gone through the day to day things student athletes go through.

2. Passion: This issue is one that hits home for me and is one thing that I will continuously pursue until the issue is taken care of. I truly believe that as time goes on and people keep pushing this, the issue will be resolved. I am one that fights for something and will relentlessly push until it is completed. I think it is rare because many people are half in on things they are working on or what they are doing. It is not easy to compete with someone with a lot of passion for an issue as they will never back down.

3. Statistics: There are many stats that prove that the Universities, Conferences, and the NCAA make money off of their athletes. With the NCAA bringing in over $1 Billion dollars a year based off of their sports, shows that people are buying tickets at a large rate to go see athletes play. Ticket sales are a major factor in revenue. People do not go to games to watch the million dollar coaches, the referees or the announcers. They watch the players perform. People will turn into a game on TV to watch the athletes play and the rating show that. This is rare because there are few corporations that make this much money off of their "Employees" and do not compensate them.

4. UF: Being at a major University like Florida, it gives me a platform that those at smaller schools do not have. I can bring together student athletes and form leadership groups to push this idea the the AD and those who work with the Athletic Administration. They can provide me with insight from the other side and why the NCAA is hesitant to solve this issue now. This is non substitute because there is a small amount of universities that bring in as much money as UF with our fan base.

5. Networking: I honestly believe that this issue will be solved when more people get involved and continue to fight for the justice of the student athletes. I know many student athletes, current and past that have the same opinion as me on this issue. With being in the position I am in, I have the chance to meet a lot of people in the community, and  get people on board with me. I believe my networking ability with people who have been in my position is rare because we have gone through the same struggles and want to help the people in the future.

6. Media Exposure: This debate has been one of the most prominent issues among the media. From National media outlets like ESPN, and Fox Sports to local outlets like Gator Country and others have chimed in on this debate. The media helps push forward ideas when they are important. This is a major issue in college sports and I think that with the media already exposing this, it is rare and non-substitutable in the fact that we do not have to start from the bottom, but can continue to get more people involved.

7. Financial Backing: This venture will have to be brought forth to the NCAA and people involved with Lawyers and it will cost a lot to ultimately get it resolved. I believe that with the national coverage it has and will continue to get, people with money to help out, will back us as we push this forward. If everyone who shares the same ideas gets together to help fund this movement, It will continue to gain ground. Money drives everything and with the NCAA bringing in the type of money they do, it will certainly be hard to fight against the big dogs in the industry but can be done if many generous people continue to back and fund this.

8. Wide variety of local businesses: The back bone of my idea is that the athletes should be allowed to market themselves and make money off of their likeness. I think this would be the best way as hourly ages and baseline compensation would be hard to spread out. College towns and major cities would absolutely want to be able to use local college athletes to market their brand and products. Here in Gainesville, there are a lot of local places that would make money for their company if they could use a Gator Athlete as an endorser. The companies would most like be willing to get involved and work out a way for it to be controlled in order to keep it legal. This would also save the companies and athletes from getting in trouble for receiving free stuff from them under the table.

9. Wide Market: This idea is not just to make people in Gainesville be impacted by it, but the goal of this is to be Nationwide. I think that it is a rare item that can be of impact to those effected at one time rather than specializing in a market locally then trying to move region to region. Working with advisers across the country and other athletes involved at many different schools, would help widen the market and get this issue fixed at one time. This is a rare element to my idea, it will be something that we will not have to work hard on advertising because it is one that is on the mind of many already.

10.Partners working together: One of the best things for a company and people pushing an idea is that they are all working for the same goal. In this case, There will not be people focused on the daily sales of a product, but would all be focused on working with the NCAA and the athletes to make sure that they are being taken care of legally and within the guidelines set. Everyone would be working with the two sides to ensure that everything is squared away. There is no equity in this company but rather the joy and pride of getting justice for the athletes that have made a lot of money for the NCAA and their respective schools. The local companies would want to be working in unison with us so that they can continue to use the athletes and not halt the progress that will be made with this issue.



I think the Top resource is the Media Exposure. Getting the media involved and talking about this issue makes it more of a household debate and gets people interested in this. When we can bring forth our idea to the top of the media industry and possible get the legal system involved, we will be able to have a strong case in our favor. The media will help us if they keep pushing it. With as many people involved as possible, we can finally get things straight and start working with the athletes.