Demand for Yeezys has recently grown to become a major reseller of luxury footwear and apparel…much to my chagrin.
Apparently some people consider it a collector’s item despite (or because of) the well-known anti-Semitic thoughts of its creator, formerly known as Kanye West. So while Adidas — which has cut ties with Ye over his offensive comments — is reportedly sitting on $500 million worth of Yeezys it can’t admit, this reseller called Impossible Kicks is shaking out up to 7,000 pairs a month, some for as little as as much as $400.
I want you to keep all this in mind as you ponder this question:
How much do you think a 2006 Tim Tebow shoe would cost today if he could have sold items during the frenzy that surrounded him in Florida for four years? You know, like everyone else.
If Yeezys can still move after all the controversy, if a pair of shoes worn by Michael Jordan as a freshman can cost nearly $1.5 million, Tebow would have linked the phrase “big man on campus” to the student’s name/photo from the athlete – getting new meaning/similarities was one thing when he was at his peak.
That has always been the sticking point for me in the ongoing student-athlete pay debate. There’s so little time for college kids to take advantage of their fame — 15 minutes, as the saying goes — and the NCAA owns every second. When TV deals started hitting eight figures, it would have been Gaslighting 101 to pretend that deal was fair.
That doesn’t mean NILs are perfect. There will always be a bit of chaos between dark third party collectives and different states with different rules. But the thing is, there was always chaos — with recruiting violations and blowers floating around campus. At least future Tebows can make some money in the chaos.
And the fact that there are still coaches complaining about this lost “amateur” story is ridiculous. Not everyone will make millions off the pros. For most physical education students, this is the end of their sports career.
There’s this 15-year-old Georgia quarterback named Julian “JuJu” Lewis, who has over 100,000 followers on Instagram, north of 200,000 likes on TikTok, and is already drawing comparisons to Trevor Lawrence, the top overall pick in the NFL’s version of 2021. Why shouldn’t he monetize that social media presence like other influencers his age? Lewis also has 35 scholarship offers, including from USC, which has an athletic department that doesn’t like outside NIL collectives, but set up its own shop last June – BLVD, which has struggled ever since.
Last month, Tommy Group officially launched as an outside collective for USC players with former USC great Keyshawn Johnson…who has already worked with 80 student-athletes. Among them is Caleb Williams, who, unlike Tebow, was able to earn his likeness in college.
Or think of Johnny Manziel, who was the first freshman to win the Heisman in 2012. He earned the nickname “Johnny Football” in high school, but didn’t make it his trademark until he left Texas A&M. By that time he had the lion’s share of his 15 minutes behind him and with that a lot of money-making potential. Sure, he and Tebow were drafted in the first round and signed deals worth millions. But what about the millions that were on the table when you were in college? Or rather, the millions that ended up in other people’s pockets when they were “amateurs”?
When Johnson told me about the Tommy Group, I was thrilled to see my friend use his expertise to help Trojans like Williams make the money he didn’t make during his college days. Representation is important, and I think it’s a win-win situation when NFL greats like Johnson and Drew Brees, who joined an NIL collective at his alma mater Purdue, give back in this way. In many ways, they are the only ones who can truly understand what a student-athlete like Williams is going through.
Case in point: The Athletic polled NFL agents about their views on NIL, and one of them said, “The problem is you see a lot of unqualified people taking advantage of these young men.”
First, it is rich in agent.
Second, former college stars with NFL careers are among the most qualified individuals to show younger versions of themselves how to maximize their 15 minutes (if college is indeed the end of their fame).
Perhaps that’s why Tebow was one of the speakers at last year’s NIL Summit in Atlanta, to give the next Heisman winner a head start on what he’s learned.
Johnson told me his group’s goal isn’t to make money for itself, but to see what’s best for Trojans. And given the number of times this lifelong Trojan has yelled “swipe on” in my face, I believe it.
Source: LA Times