There has been so much debate over the use of athlete likeness for commercial purposes in the past few months, and the debate, along with the state declarations of support with laws that will support, are going to go on for some time.
Much of the focus still remains with big time, big exposure schools where marketable athletes who happen to also be students can case in on licensing their names and images for everything from video games to jerseys. Some people see windfall, others see problems with the rich getting richer and the trickledown to those beyond the bigger schools being minimal.
However for the entrepreneurial, the nimble, the socially savvy, the ability to quickly turn around something to capitalize on an unexpected moment in time is a real opportunity that someday, can be a best practice of hustle and grit by those on campuses learning and expanding their reach.
Case in point. Tuesday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium, Stephen F. Austin University, certainly no slouch to anyone who has watched college hoops the last few years , still pulled off the men’s basketball shocker of the year to date, stunning Duke on their home floor in overtime 85 to 83 on a last second shot by graduate student and Bahamas native Nathan Bain. The stunner thrust SFA and Bain into the national spotlight on a quiet night, but it was Bain’s backstory, that his family had lost almost everything in Hurricane Dorian and there as a slowly performing GoFundme page out there to help his family recover, that became the hook for the night.
The response since the shot and the news has been terrific, with money flowing into the account at a solid pace, which certainly makes all feel good.
However think about what could be done if Bain, who cannot control the funds and must keep at arm’s length from any extra dollars, had the rights to his own likeness off of last night. Maybe someone uses the image and some of the Lumberjacks catch phrases for tee-shirts that could have been turned around and sold for the cause; maybe someone designs another piece around his number that can also be used to raise dollars and awareness; maybe, maybe Bain uses his story and his image to transcend beyond the fleeting moments of fame (assuming SFA doesn’t keep along their recent success and blends more into the fabric of a long college hoops season) and can leverage those seconds of excellence, and whatever else he does this season, to grow his own brand, tied to cause or not.
Now this wasn’t UMBC shocking Number One Virginia in March Madness or Loyola of Chicago and Sister Jean making a run to the Final Four. It was one amazing night in a very long college hoops season, but it was an attention getter, and a young basketball player from the Bahamas took advantage of one moment in time to grab the national spotlight. Maybe there are some entrepreneurial students around SFA figuring out ways to amplify the moment and make a few dollars where right now Nathan Bain can’t.
Down the road however there might be that window of opportunity to take advantage of as it is carved out for those who can seize the spotlight, whether they are softball or soccer players or women’s basketball players. Right now that door is still closed, but maybe not for long.
Nathan Bain’s of the future take note.
