KU Fans’ Indiegogo Campaign is a No-Go
Enterprising Kansas fans are trying to crowd fund an additional year out of freshman Andrew Wiggins. [Update: The campaign is has been taken down already.] And they believe they may have found a way around NCAA extra benefit rules:
Here’s the fun part: NCAA rules prohibit athletes from receiving cash contributions during their college careers. However, there is no rule that says athletes cannot accept money after their college careers are over. (Such as when they turn pro.)
Therefore, all money donated will be held in an escrow account (sort of like a trust fund) until Wiggins has completed his NCAA eligibility (or the seniors have completed theirs). While he remains an amateur, the money is out of his hands. But once his eligibility is up, the check will be waiting.
Sadly, the organizers of the Indiegogo campaign are mistaken. The NCAA’s rule is once a student-athlete, always a student-athlete. In fact, Kansas ended up on probation in 2005 for just this type of violation:
Kansas officials said three representatives of the university’s “athletics interests” – Dana Anderson, Joan Edwards and Bernard Morgan – gave cash and clothing to graduating student athletes and other players who had exhausted their eligibility.
Both the campaign organizers and Indiegogo should probably expect to receive a cease-and-desist letter from Kansas’s compliance office in the very near future. [Update: Per the comment below, Kansas has already issued a cease and desist letter.]