Business Opportunities Take Off For College Volleyball Player Adelaide Halverson As First Barstool Athlete
CHICAGO (CBS) -- College athletes can now get paid for personal appearances, autographs, product endorsements, and social media posts – and a Chicago area athlete has wasted no time building her brand.
As CBS 2's Charlie De Mar reported Tuesday night, he opportunity for college athletes to profit from their skills off the court is considered a game-changer. They can't get paid to play, but they can ink deals to earn money from their own personal brands.
"I've had so many businesses reach out to me and ask to like partner with me," said Adelaide Halverson.
Halverson is a red-shirt senior who plays volleyball at Jacksonville State University in Alabama. She grew up in McHenry County.
Once the NCAA changed its rules last week to allow college athletes to profit from their names, images, and likenesses, she jumped at the opportunity and capitalized. It all started with a message to Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy.
"Big news Out of the NCAA – players, they can no longer prevent players from making money on their likeness, their image, all that stuff. Adelaide Halverson – she's a volleyball player at Jacksonville State – DM'd me. She's like, 'Yo, I want to be the first Barstool Athlete," Portnoy said in an Instagram video clip. "I was like, all right, what does that mean? I'm in. I don't even know what that means, I love the sound of it."
"I was like: 'Hey this sounds like a great idea. I play D1 volleyball. Let's do this,' and he responded almost immediately," Halverson said, "I was kind of shocked when he responded, and it just kind of blew up from there."
Halverson is now the first Barstool Athlete. Others around the country have now followed in her path.
"It gives a lot of exposure to the athletes and their name out there for other businesses also to see," she said.
Companies have taken notice.
"And a robotics company too - that was kind of cool," Halverson said.
She posted Tuesday about one of her newest partnerships.
"So, I think you're going to see, A, them be able to cash in on that while they are associated with their college programs and they are getting those eyeballs," said Nicole Auerback, a college sports writer with The Athletic.
With fewer opportunities to go pro, Auerbeck said the rule change will give female college athletes new opportunities.
"This is, for a lot of them, the window where they can make the most money and that they're the most marketable," she said.
As for Halverson, she is already putting her degree in marketing to work.
"I honestly hope it like skyrockets me after college for my career," she said.
Halverson said her phone has been ringing non-stop since this all came about. She really wasn't expecting a response back from Barstool, but clearly things have changed for her.
