It’s my Parting Shot for a continued thought from last Tuesday on the interesting and concerning times facing Major Junior Hockey…..
Back last Tuesday, I mentioned that my biggest fears about the whole N-C-A-A rule change, allowing C-H-L players to accept scholarships and play in U-S Colleges, were being realized because we’re starting to see some of the American schools recruit top players once they graduate from high school and still have Major Junior eligibility for more than just one year!
The big reason, of course, is money!
Yes, there are other reasons like better facilities, only playing on weekends, lots of practice time, you take classes and get credits towards graduating ahead of the typical timeline if you play Major Junior, plus others – but it’s the money, plain and simple!
I haven’t kept up with how much W-H-L players receive as a monthly “allowance” from their teams, but the last time I checked – about 15 years ago – it was around 300 dollars per month for a 19-year-old, and went down by 20 dollars per month for every year younger a player was through 16. I was led to believe 20-year-olds got a fair chunk more, but that is chump change compared to the N-I-L money that college athletes in the Excited States can get!
According to Wikipedia, N-I-L refers to the rights of student-athletes to profit from their name, image, and likeness. Essentially, it allows them to sign endorsement deals, make money from social media and engage in other commercial ventures while maintaining their eligibility. For star N-C-Double-A football and basketball athletes, they can make six figures in N-I-L money per year. Even if U-S College hockey players get 10 per cent of that, they’re way ahead of what they get in monthly allowance from C-H-L teams. A full-ride scholarship to a U-S College usually means the school pays for tuition, fees, room and board and, more often than not, books and supplies. The W-H-L scholarship program, while very good and has looked after several thousand players over the last 25 years or so, only pays for tuition and books in most instances – not room and board, which can be costly!
So, pay the C-H-L players more per month in order to be competitive with the N-C-Double-A, you say? The biggest fallacy out there is that C-H-L team owners are making scads of money in operating their clubs – which is the furthest thing from the truth and I’ll get into that next week!
That’s my Parting Shot. I’m Les Lazaruk…and it turned out nice again!
