Why Purdue basketball’s 2024 March Madness run will not allow Zach Edey to profit from a NIL
Zach Edey, who is arguably the most prominent collegiate basketball player of the 2024 NCAA Tournament, is optimistic that changes for international players like him are imminent.
In the modern era of name, image, and likeness, the biggest star of Monday’s men’s NCAA Tournament championship game hasn’t been able to capitalize on his reputation nearly as much as one might imagine. Zach Edey, a massive 7-foot-4 center for Purdue who was named the Associated Press Player of the Year twice, has dominated the game and led the Boilermakers to their first-ever national championship.
Unfortunately for Edey, he can no longer profit at all from his likeness due to strict American restrictions.
“It seems like I’m losing a lot of money,” Edey said to the media on Friday.
The problem is that Edey, a Canadian, is in the United States on an F1 visa, also called a student visa, which restricts the amount of money that foreign students can earn outside of their studies.
Edey is not able to actively participate in traditional NIL activation events, like an autograph signing outside Purdue’s West Lafayette campus, but he is able to profit from passive activities like jersey sales.
An NIL arrangement may be construed as “unauthorized employment” because to the stringent regulations. Should an athlete such as Edey violate these regulations, the government has the authority to revoke his visa and require him to depart the nation.
Consequently, Edey hasn’t been able to take full use of his prospects as the top player in college basketball, while DJ Burns, a big man from NC State, emerged as the unexpected NIL star of March Madness.
The two-time unanimous first-team All-American is permitted to participate in NIL events while in his native Canada, but not in the US. He is also not permitted to publicly advocate for businesses involved in NIL arrangements on social media.
He signed a NIL contract with the Daps, for example, when Purdue faced Alabama in Toronto in December.
Oscar Tshiebwe, a native of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and former Kentucky standout, faced comparable difficulties when competing for the Wildcats from 2021–2023. According to The Athletic, Tshiebwe’s workaround plan was to take advantage of his overseas possibilities, such as a lucrative NIL week in the Bahamas in 2022 where he made almost $500,000 in seven days.
Edey believes that the laws will finally be changed.
“I hope they change it in the future,” he replied. “Obviously, this year has been a big financial loss for me. Ultimately, it undoubtedly needs to alter. I have some understanding of the judicial system. It need some time.
Not like it’s a regulation from the NCAA. It is a law in America. I know it takes some time, but whenever you try to go change that, I understand. However, I do believe that it ought to alter.”
Two U.S. senators, Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), presented a bill in October of last year that would permit foreign athletes traveling in the country on an F-1 visa to earn zero dollars.
“Part-time employment is an essential aspect of being a college student,” Senator Ricketts declared in a press release introducing the bill. “The new NIL regulations for collegiate athletics must be included in the student visa. International student athletes ought to have the same access to possibilities as their domestic counterparts, including running summer camps for children and participating in events. Our sensible plan will level the playing field so that our antiquated visa policy doesn’t lead American sports programs to lose great student athletes.”