Segment: My segment focuses on college athletes who have experienced their likeness benefitting everyone else but them financially. As I don't know any current student-athletes, however, the three people I interviewed were former athletes.
Interview 1: This person became aware of their need after graduating and getting a full-time job, but then realizing that there was much more work associated with being an athlete at the collegiate level than there is now in their ensuing career field. Understandably, this person felt like it was too late to seek out assistance in this situation since they didn't necessarily become aware of it until after their playing days were over. They still did their due diligence, however, and are now huge supporters of the upcoming change to allow players to be compensated from their likeness; they do wish they were born a few generations later so they could have taken advantage of this new policy though.
Interview 2: This former athlete is actually still a student but decided to end his playing days and focus on maximizing his other areas of interest after he tore his ACL a few years ago. He became aware of his need as soon as his injury diagnosis came in and forced him to make the tough decision of moving on. For a top-tier athlete with professional talent, to see their life change before their eyes due to an injury is traumatic enough, not to mention there really being no insurance policy or any form of income in place to not only reward them for the work they put in but to also assist them in their transition out of that lifestyle. Research was done, as well as talking to family and friends, and so that is what helped him make the decision to move on to bigger and better things with his life.
Interview 3: This person was aware of their need early on, as they were mostly utilizing their talents in order to assist their family through hard times. Coming from a tough neighborhood and economic background, people find it quite difficult to get out of that lifestyle, and either turn to sports or illegal activities such as drugs. This person chose the good route in sports before realizing that at least in college, there were rules in place that stripped that athlete's immediate value as far as making money as soon as possible and getting his family out of that environment. As a result, this person decided to go with the only other option he ever knew will be able to make quick money. They did their best to work around the system and use their likeness to make money in any way possible, all while not getting caught of course. This is a common problem that is exploited by these student-athletes who feel like they have no other choice.
Conclusion: I learned that while student-athletes all come from different walks of life and don't become aware of their roughly similar needs at the same exact point in their lives, they all still have underwhelming solutions in order to find alternatives to fill that need. This upcoming policy change will give the newer generation of athletes a better ground to build from and will ensure that they don't have to resort to desperate measures if they fall on hard times. My agency will only maximize their newfound benefits and savings as a result of now being able to be compensated accordingly for their likeness.
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