The NY Times sheds the light on the money being made by college cheerleaders who are NOT under the umbrella of the private thumb of the NCAA….
Basketball and Football college student ARE….
The cheerleaders ARE allowed to make endorsements and make MONEY….
In this rare place when young women ARE able to make more money then men for a period of time…..(Notice the complextion and attire of the pretty young women)
In the end?
Of course the heavy hitters in pro sports will make way more money in the end….
But have to wait and tow the line why their schools make hundreds of millions off their playing…
During the three years Jamie Andries spent as a member of the University of Oklahoma cheerleading team, she cheered at two Big 12 championship football games, the Orange Bowl, the Sugar Bowl, the Rose Bowl and the 2016 Final Four.
And while the star football and basketball players in those games — including the Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Baker Mayfield and the future N.B.A. guard Buddy Hield — were forbidden to make money from their athletic fame beyond what the university provided to cover their attendance, Andries was receiving thousands of dollars through sponsorship deals with Crocs, L’Oréal, American Eagle and Lokai.
“Coming to OU for college was a big milestone for me but it has given me so many amazing opportunities like being able to cheer for the Sooners,” Andries said in an Instagram post in February 2016 that shows her wearing her cheer uniform and holding up her left wrist to display two Lokai bracelets. “This month I support @livelokai and the Alzheimer’s Association.”
The lucrative opportunities for Andries came because of her fame and a social media following in the cheerleading world — she is one of the top “cheerlebrities,” as such stars are known — and because the N.C.A.A. and its universities do not regulate cheerleading in the same ways they do other sports.
Long-held rules governing amateurism among college athletes do not apply to cheerleaders, meaning they can sell autographs, appear in commercials and wear their cheer uniforms while promoting products as social influencers, without fear of being disciplined. In sports governed by the N.C.A.A., athletes risk their eligibility to compete if they engage in similar activities, and their teams and universities can also be punished…..
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The N.C.A.A. has long fought attempts to loosen its rules, but is now on a path toward allowing athletes to earn money from some endorsements, including through social media deals. The shift followed pressure from legislation in California and several other states, enacted by lawmakers who said the N.C.A.A.’s stance was no longer tenable given the significant growth of college sports as a moneymaking enterprise….
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“The image of a cheerleader is kind of like Chevrolet and hot dogs and apple pie,” Fitzpatrick said.
High school cheerleaders are also cashing in, with no risk of voiding their eligibility to cheer in college. Ryan Cummings, a 16-year-old from North Carolina, gained fame and 437,000 Instagram followers after a GIF of her making a sassy expression during a cheer routine in 2018 became an internet meme. She gets money for posts on TikTok and, like other cheerleaders, sells autographed bows and has hired an agent to help her negotiate deals.
Her teammate, Kenley Pope, 15, has had Instagram partnerships with Casetify, Novashine, Ivory Ella and Crocs, which paid her $2,000 for posts. Pope’s mother and coach, Courtney Smith-Pope, helps her determine which products to promote.
Smith-Pope owns Cheer Extreme Athletics, a gym in Kernersville, N.C., that has produced multiple cheerlebrities over the years. She said she doesn’t need to dictate the endorsements her athletes accept. “These kids own their own talents and their own abilities,” she said, a sentiment shared by many coaches….
image….Lifestyle/SpotMeBro.com…Pinterest