By Frank J. Diekmann
In the lead-off spot, a sports prediction, with a semi-sports-related prediction on deck.
It seems inevitable we will see in the coming weeks announcements from credit unions that they have entered into endorsement contracts with college athletes. Unthinkable not that long ago for the “amateurs” of college sports, the NCAA’s brand-new “Name, Image, Likeness” (NIL) rules now allow college athletes to basically minor in making as much money as they can off their, well, names, images and likenesses.
And that brings us to credit unions.
Nearly every university and college is affiliated with a credit union. In many cases, the CU was founded by university/college employees (I don’t know if they used the fabled cigar box to pool deposits; it was probably more likely a pipe tobacco can.) Indeed, NCUA’s database shows 105 credit unions with the word “University” in their names; another 51 include the word “College.”
For many of these CUs hiring a well-known local college athlete as a spokesperson seems like not only a Basics of Business 101 deal, it also will allow the credit union to look good in the community (and feel good about itself) by sponsoring the player(s). And not just individual athletes but perhaps every member of some teams, such as women’s gymnastics or soccer. (The University of Miami has already announced a potential deal with one local company for each member of its football team, officially putting the U in “gratuity.”)
But university-related CUs don’t have a lock-down defense here. There are plenty of bigger-budget banks that will be looking to cut similar deals, not to mention other credit unions not affiliated with the respective schools that may see a way to carve out a piece of the field turf in a new market for themselves.
College football season is just a few short months away. Tune in, because it won’t just be the games that are kicking off, it will be a whole new world.
The Potential Lunacy
And now the semi-sports-related prediction that isn’t completely credit union related, but…
NIL may stand for Name, Image, Likeness, but it might as well instead be a contraction for “Never-Intended Lunacy.”
Look, just like forecasting any upcoming season in any sport can lead to a lot of bad guesses (Bengals a lock for Super Bowl!), I may turn out to be wrong, but all this money flowing to kids roughly 18-22 years old, many of whom have never had any money in their lives, has all the potential to create a wrong-way touchdown, an own goal, a…well, you get it.
How long before there are locker room divisions over a running back who's got a lucrative agreement with a restaurant chain and his offensive linemen who say, “Hey, you want us to keep blocking for you? Well, we need to eat, too.” Before a blue-collar basketball forward starts questioning why he has to absorb hard screens to help a point guard who has a sweet deal with a local car dealer? Before one player in any sport gets a deal another player was counting on? What about one-and-doners in college basketball who already barely need to show up in class to be eligible and who will now see even less reason to visit an academic building?
There is an entire roster of other questions that are going to be sprouting like knee injuries this autumn.
Coaches are going to have to learn to deal with all of that and now, instead of involving compliance officers to help with some of the headaches, they’re going to need lawyers (and some players will have their own) and mediators. Good times.
Our Spokes-Jock Did What?!
And there are potential other issues, too, for credit unions that take advantage of the new NIL rules. You may not know this, but as I spent more than a decade living in a university town and I’ll let you in on a secret: college kids are occasionally prone to do dumb things. No, seriously. In some cases, really dumb things.
And that athlete who is all over social media for that really dumb thing? That could be your CU’s spokes-jock.
You know, the one in all your TV spots and marketing materials. Congrats, now you’re a meme.
And what if a CU finds itself having to deal with both the NCUA and the NCAA simultaneously? Automatic DQ?
Get ready. The 2021 season may be the first in all sports in which the off-the-field activities get more attention than what takes place on the field.
Frank J. Diekmann is Cooperator in Chief of CUToday.info and can be reached at Frank@CUToday.info. Mr. Diekmann is also author of a brand-new book, “The Last Lyric,” a humorous satire about a murder investigation at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in which every line of dialogue is either a classic pop/rock song title or lyric. Available on Amazon, Apple iBook, Barnes & Noble and Smashwords.