sacraig
- The desert
I think the vast majority of these "endorsement deals" for college students would be things like making commercials and billboards for local car dealerships and restaurants and such. Those are the businesses that generally have local appeal and some degree of advertising budget to spend. The truly local businesses would also probably be happy for any or all of the players, too, not just the stars.
I think a significant but smaller group would for the bigger stars like Ayo, who would certainly have interest from companies advertising more broadly in the state, especially in Chicago. He doesn't have the star power to warrant a national Nike ad campaign by any stretch, but maybe someone like Lou Malnati's wants to run a more regional ad campaign with a bigger star.
I honestly think those sorts of situations become by far the majority of money moving around here in addition to being able to sell autographed memorabilia and receive royalties from video games. After all, most college boosters are in that sort of low-level wealthy range where they have some cash to throw around but certainly not enough to be dropping $100,000 a year on a single player to play for their alma mater. Even huge boosters like Shad Khan that could do that have better places to spend their money and make a longer term impact, like on facilities or coaches.
That's my theory on how this will play out. It will be interesting for sure.
