A report by Yahoo revealed that an FBI probe into NCAA corruption identifies possible violations by basketball powerhouse schools including Kentucky, UNC, Kansas, Duke, Texas, and more than 15 others. Sports Attorney Jason Belzer, President at Game, broke down the implications of the allegations.
Several top NBA prospects and recently drafted players were linked to impermissible benefits, such as cash advances and entertainment and travel expenses. Names listed include Duke's Wendell Carter Jr., Michigan State's Miles Bridges, and Alabama's Collin Sexton. Belzer isn't surprised by the allegations. He believes that until players get a share of the revenue that the schools get, these transactions will continue to be a part of recruitment.
The average compensation for a college basketball or football player is around $250,000-$300,000, including items such as tuition and room and board, according to Belzer. The top players generate an estimated $3 million to $5 million for their schools, he added. Belzer said a compensation structure that could fix the problem would be one that allows players to accept certain amounts of compensation. The easiest way, he said, would be to put money into a trust fund for the athletes.
Mark Drumheller, betting analyst for Yahoo Sportsbook and The Sharp App, dives into an icy matchup between the Vikings and Packers, as well as other must-watch games including a potential trap in Baltimore.
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Trysta Krick, Host of 'BetMGM Tonight' helps clear up a very crowded playoff picture by making selections for Week 17's top games while pointing to to an AFC West matchup for her lock of the week.
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Trysta Krick and Mark Drumheller give viewers their winning picks ahead of Week 17 of the NFL season, while Brandon Marcello dissects each of the College Football Playoff semifinal matchups.
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The National Women's Soccer League is partnering with Voyager Digital as its first-ever cryptocurrency brokerage in a multi-year deal. Marla Messing, interim CEO of the NWSL, and Steve Ehrlich, CEO of Voyager Digital, joined Cheddar to discuss benefitting the league and educating players and fans as a way of democratizing cryptocurrency. Messing explained that the players themselves will own half the assets as part of how the deal is structured. "My hope is, just in terms of the expectations of crypto over the long term, that I hope a lot of them are able to just let it sit there," she said. "And that one day this will be a nice retirement account for them."
Barstool Sports CEO Erika Nardini joined Cheddar's Kristen Scholer to discuss plans for the future even as COVID-19 upended Barstool's sponsorship of the Arizona Bowl featuring the Boise State Broncos and the Central Michigan Chippewas due to the spreading omicron variant. "In our case as a company, coronavirus has been a big boom for us," she noted. "We've been able to create a lot of new programming, launch a lot of different personalities, and frankly take share from traditional media, and that's what we've done the entire pandemic." While she admitted to taking a hit on the canceled Bowl game, live events aren't completely off the table for Barstool in 2022. Nardini also talked about potential sports betting expansion following its partnership with Penn National Gaming.
Five women have been named to the U.S. short-track speedskating team for the 2022 Beijing Olympics. Among those five, there was only one returning Olympian of the group, Maame Biney, who competed in the 2018 Olympics as the first African-American woman to ever qualify for the U.S. short-track speedskating team. JD sat down with Biney to discuss how she's preparing for the games.
