It’s understandable why Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith always sounded a bit leery of the coming wave of compensating college athletes for use of their name, image and likeness. Smith is a career lifer in athletic administration, and with his annual compensation north of $2 million annually, it’s been a very good life. But if you’re an Ohio State football fan, life is about to get much, much better because of name, image and likeness compensation. With Smith and OSU president Michael Drake intimately involved in the committee that Wednesday recommended green-lighting pay for athletes to profit off their celebrity — likely not until the 2021-2022 season — the Buckeyes already-sizable advantage over their Big Ten brethren grew noticeably larger. Columbus is the largest metropolitan market in the league without an MLB, NBA or NFL team whose players would be competing with Ohio State players for advertising endorsement opportunities.…
Continue Reading: Ohio State Will Get Richer Off Name, Image, Likeness Rules
