The key to recruiting top college football players these days isn’t just a spacious training facility or a famous coach. It offers them a chance to join a new kind of operation that can pay them eye-popping sums raised by wealthy patrons, who can often write off the donations if they do a little outside work.
The rapid increase in high payments to student-athletes by so-called donor collectives has become one of the biggest problems in college sports. It changes the way players are recruited and encourages a form of free agency for those seeking a transfer. And because many of the groups were founded as charities or with charities that make donations tax deductible, they face scrutiny from the Internal Revenue Service.
The postponement is due to a decision forced on the NCAA two years ago to allow payments to student-athletes. The system that has emerged from this change is reshaping college football and other major sports by creating collectives, little-regulated groups that raise money from alumni and other die-hard fans and funnel the proceeds to players, ostensibly for charitable or social purposes Purposes, unexpectedly strengthens media posts or other small tasks.
While they theoretically operate independently of athletic programs, collectives are deeply embedded in the economics of college sports and provide extensive supplements to schools’ scholarships.
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