What Does 2024 Bring Us? “Fly Me To The Moon…” NIL & The Transfer Portal. College Athletes and Cigars? Foul Ball.
Happy 2024. The start of a new year brings us opportunity, insight, challenge, and the unknown. I do not make new year resolutions but I will take a stab at a few predictions for 2024. Some of these will align me with MOTO (master of the obvious) but this is JustMyTake:
- The global economy will improve and the U.S. will lead the way with a slow recovery led by the Fed methodically lowering EFFR, better known as the Fed rate.
- Continued regulation regarding the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) will not get in the way of this technology being part of our everyday lives.
Speaking of AI, this is funny….or not? MY WIFE ASKED ME WHY I SPOKE SO SOFTLY IN THE HOUSE. I SAID I WAS AFAID MARK ZUCKERBERG WAS LISTENING. SHE LAUGHED. ALEXA LAUGHED. SIRI LAUGHED.
- The continued severity of global climate events will dictate governments stepping in with more regulation, specifically surrounding carbon emissions.
- Further advancements with healthcare technology and research will lead the way with breakthroughs helping to cure Alzheimer’s disease.
- As outlined below, accessible commercial space travel to the edge of the Earth’s atmosphere becomes available this year.
- United States astronauts will return to the moon – including the first woman to step on that surface.
- Unfortunately, the Israel-Hamas conflict will wage on through the end of the year.
- The Baltimore Ravens win the Super Bowl and France will be the Euro 2024 champion.
- The U.S. presidential election. Nope, I am not going there. :)
- Risk mitigation is part and parcel of operating costs – with different entities having variable thresholds of risk. The risk management process consists of three parts: risk assessment and analysis, risk evaluation, and risk treatment. It is quite obvious that the building owner and general contractor of the Chrysler Building had no time to deal with risk mitigation. “A special breed” is the understatement of the New Year!
- Speaking of risk…..I previously wrote about Space Perspective, the Titusville, Florida space technology company now ready to take commercial passengers to the edge of space. Passengers will be in a very interesting capsule which will reach an altitude of 100,000 feet, tethered to and pulled upward by a 650-foot-tall balloon filled with hydrogen. Your six-hour adventure will cost you $125,000 so book for 2025, as 2024 is already sold out. Yes, the capsule has a bar and a bathroom. Perfect.
- In August of 2021, a U.S. Supreme Court ruling changed the landscape of college athletics allowing athletes to profit from their name, image, and likeness, now known as the everyday acronym NIL. College athletes, above and beyond their scholarship and perks, now can be paid similar to any other person for their partnership or endorsement with a business and brand. Research done by Ohio State University estimates that a good college football player, with a large fanbase, can earn NIL money averaging $650,000. Texas quarterback Arch Manning, who has a last name synonymous with football, is worth $2.9 million with trading card company Panini America. Eighty-five Utah players, all on scholarship, received brand new Dodge Ram pickup trucks. Yes, these are COLLEGE football players.
The other part of college athletics that changes everything is the ability for athletes to change schools without having to sit out one season before eligibility. The Transfer Portal was created as a compliance tool to systematically manage the transfer process from start to finish, add more transparency to the process among schools and empower student-athletes to make known their desire to consider other programs.
Combine ‘NIL’ and the transfer portal and the net result is a top college football player, based on his new school’s ‘NIL account’, can enter the transfer portal to change to a school where they can receive a greater amount of NIL money. I do not have the facts, but one example may be former Florida standout running back Trevor Etienne, who announced via X (formerly known as Twitter), that he is transferring to Georgia and will be eligible to play for the Bulldogs next season (instead of the former rule dictating that a player who transfers schools must sit out one year before being eligible to compete).
Don’t get me wrong, I am a UGA supporter, but one must wonder if Etienne is immediately transferring due to Georgia losing its two top running backs or because of a guarantee of a large amount of NIL money? If Alabama or Texas came to the table with more NIL money, would Etienne have ended up transferring to one of those schools?
The college football world is forever changed and in my opinion not necessarily for the better. The JustMyTake distribution list includes many people involved with sports, media, and law…what is your take?
- “The optics look bad.” Speaking of college football and the changing landscape, I think the Georgia Tech athletics director should take corrective action with his college football coaching staff. The behavior of the athletes, after a meaningless win in the infamous Gasparilla Bowl, was shocking to me. Smoking cigars on the sideline during the game? What kind of message does that send to their alumni, partners, sponsors, and more importantly the children watching that game? In a word, disgusting.
- On the opposite side of sports, let’s leave the first post of 2024 with maybe one of greatest catches of all time, including the Willie Mays over the shoulder catch of 1954. The video resolution is wonky but it really does not matter. Watch this young lady track and catch this line drive foul ball.