collegebaseballrecruitingguide posted:NorCalBBDad posted:Looking forward to seeing how this turns out. The players' allegiance will turn from the school to the sponsor. Imagine if Nike said to Zion "Wow Zion, that was close. Listen, we have too much money invested in you to take a chance on anything happening to you. We want you to take the rest of the season off - no ACC tournament or NCAA - and we'll give you another $20 million when you are drafted into the pros." The Golden Rule. He who has the gold makes the rules.
Does that sound like making money from their image, likeness or name? No, that sounds like something different, and therefore outside the intent of what they are doing.
I can imagine an endorsement deal that included some provisions about avoiding career-ending injury, so yes I could imagine this scenario. Athletes with multiple revenue streams (and hopes of future earnings) inevitably run some risk of divided loyalties. But I haven't heard of NBA players malingering to avoid messing up their endorsement arrangements, and they have had shoe contracts for decades. (And something similar to this essentially happens now when football players decide to skip bowl games rather than risk injuring themselves. Also, recall the speculation about whether Zion should just have ended his season after he hurt his knee when his shoe blew out vs. UNC.)