You may have noticed that there’s a bit of a ruckus going on between University of Central Florida kicker Donald De La Haye and the NCAA. In a video Haye posted to his YouTube channel last week titled “Quit College Sports or Quit YouTube,” the student-athlete explains that UCF and the NCAA would find him in violation of bylaws if he made any money off of his YouTube channel. Their argument was that he was leveraging his likeness as a college athlete for profit.
Of course, this ignores the fact that Haye is also a marketing major who plans to pursue a career in that field after school. Haye has also said any money he makes from his channel – which currently has almost 60,000 subscribers and 2.7 million views, goes directly to his family who aren;t on the best of financial footing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3gdVzq3nm4
“I feel like they’re making me pick between my passion in what I love to do, make videos and entertain, be creative, and my other passion, which is playing football,” he said.
Given Haye’s latest video, it looks like he has chosen to take the NCAA head on. He most recent gem is titled “College sports be like…” and ruthlessly mocks the control the NCAA attempts to exert on its players.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=10&v=PVp0rpo_HFA
The NCAA claims they want to help protect students, yet they don’t allow its athletes to find jobs or any outlets that might prepare for them life after football. Kudos to Haye for putting up a fight, let’s just hope those bloodsuckers don’t take away his scholarship as a result.
