Jolie Goldstein



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News Story

Not All Student Athletes Benefit from NIL

By Ali Brown, Stella Klaus, Michael McGrew and Jolie Goldstein

Sophomore Alec Cesare tees off at a recent golf tournament. This is Cesare’s first year golfing at Indiana University after a tough decision. Photo courtesy of Alec Cesare.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (Nov. 5, 2024) – The air was finally beginning to warm up after a rough transition into spring and the campus almost felt deserted, with no students making their way to classes. After the spring semester had wrapped up at Ball State University and students went home for the summer, Alec Cesare suddenly found himself no longer enrolled in his school or his sport. His first collegiate golf season was not what he had hoped it would be, so Cesare decided it was time for a change. He knew he wanted to stay in the state, but still the challenge of finding a new school was daunting. After an abundance of research, visits and practices Cesare finally decided on his next destination: Indiana University.

Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) started at the very beginning of collegiate athletics with a boat race between Harvard and Yale that was sponsored by a railroad executive to promote train travel to lake Winnipesaukee in 1852. At the beginning with no governing body regulating college athletics and not very many rules, payments of many different kinds to college athletes happened. 

The rise in popularity of football created lots of revenue. They would offer compensation to talented athletes which led to athletes jumping around to different colleges depending on which ones would pay them more. The sport of Football became increasingly more popular and dangerous, so Theodore Roosevelt met with colleges to review rules and from that meeting the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) was created to make the sport safer. 

Once it was created the NCAA advised against compensating college athletes. However, they found that this was still happening since football was a highly profitable sport. In 1948 the NCAA decided to do more than advise against it; they adopted a code that reiterated their opposition to payment of student athletes. Through the years the NCAA molded and formed new rules about scholarships and how much they can give athletes for being on their team. The rules of NIL are still being challenged to this day.

Alec Cesare attempts a chip shot to continue match play. Cesare finished in the top three at this match. Photo courtesy of Alec Cesare.

One of the biggest complaints about the structure of NIL is the vast difference in income between smaller, less-viewed sports and the larger, more popular sports. Alec Cesare, a sophomore golf player, has experienced this firsthand.

“We spend the same amount of hours practicing, competing and representing the university,” Cesare said. “I think we deserve the same opportunities even though we don’t bring in as much revenue as they do.” 

Financially this gap makes sense, the larger sports attract more views and in turn generate more revenue. However, smaller-sport athletes, like Cesare and his teammates, don’t benefit from this, and are expected to spend most of their free time dedicated to their sport without any compensation. 

While smaller sports may never get the same amount of money through NIL as sports like Football, NIL still impacted Cesare’s decision when he was transferring schools. He did not get NIL money at Ball State, but at a bigger school there are more opportunities.

“I knew if I went bigger there would be higher chances to get more money,” Cesare said. “The difference between mid-major D1 schools and Power 4 schools is crazy, especially when it comes to money.” 

Even with the large difference in sums of money, Cesare still voiced his complaints about the large deficit of money from sport to sport.

  “There is a lot of hypocrisy, a lack of clarity and a lack of consistency in a lot of what we’re seeing in these proposed settlements,” Dr. Galen Clavio, Director of the National Sports Journalism Center, said.

Dr. Clavio speaks about NIL to a C250 class. Clavio is a sports media professor at IU and an expert on the topic of NIL. Photo taken by Emma Pearce.

The lack of consistency is the same thing that many athletes are frustrated with. This difference in revenue between larger and smaller sports is creating a divide amongst athletes. 

“You’re never going to have a job where your coworker gets paid more and you don’t think you deserve to get paid more than them,” Jeremy Gray, Senior Associate Athletic Director for Strategic Communications, said. 

There are many different attitudes between experts on how NIL should work and how much athletes should get paid, that is why it is such an ongoing topic that has changed a lot through the years. However, smaller sports don’t make as much NIL money as more popular sports because they don’t get as much TV time, they get less advertising (billboards, posters, merchandise, etc.), they can’t ask brands for sponsorships because of the lack of TV time and they don’t get as much emotional support compared to other sports.

NIL continues to be a popular topic of discussion in collegiate athletics, and that is not going to stop anytime soon. Smaller sports will continue to make far less revenue than more popular sports, despite efforts from smaller sport athletes. Although there are many different facets of NIL that can be dissected, the deficit of funding between large and small sports is one of the most important to discuss to ensure all athletes are being treated fairly under NIL regulations. 

People on the streets of Bloomington share their opinions on NIL. Due to the recent supreme court case NCAA v. Alston NIL has been a growing topic with new opinions arising.

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Public Relations Story

Apple Watch release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Kyla Dunigan

Matilyn Martin

Jolie Goldstein

Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, announced the release of the brand new Apple Watch, on Sunday at the Apple Event taking place in Cupertino, California. At the release event, Cook maintained a calm and simple mannerism just like his minimalistic outfit he wore to put

the focus more on what he was about to shock the crowd with. “But we’re not quite finished yet,” Cook said, “we have one more thing.” The audience was cheering before Cook even announced that it was a smartwatch that Apple was releasing, and once he did, the audience applauded and cheered excitedly for the new innovation.

Lily Troung, a cook at the Forest dining hall is excited to check her steps and calories burned for the day. Apple watches are able to track things like this to help improve the health of users.

 With this new development, Apple has modernized the world of smartwatches. The Apple watch is going to change the way that we look at smartwatches by making it able to do so much. Cook demonstrated the watch by showing the audience a promotional video that Apple had made of the watch to show its physical aspects. After the video finished playing, Cook rolled up his sleeves to reveal that he was wearing the Apple Watch.

Health and fitness is going to be one of the biggest aspects of the watch. “Apple Watch gives us the ability to motivate people to be more active and more healthy.” Cook said. The watch is for all types of fitness levels, so anyone can use it. There are two apps on the Apple Watch for health and fitness. The fitness app is to keep track of users activity and movement throughout their day. The workout app is going let users set personalized goals for workouts of their choice.  It is able to keep track of all of your physical activity and overall health and act like a personal trainer on your wrist.

The watch will come in two different sizes, 38mm and 42mm. Buyers will be able to choose between a stainless steel finish or a space black stainless steel finish. The screen of the watch is a touchscreen that wearers can easily interact with; additionally, on the side of the watch, there is a crown that will allow users to navigate their watch in a user-friendly way without obstructing the watch face display. The watch is equipped with a built-in speaker and microphone. Siri also comes with the Apple Watch. A long lasting battery life is something that the company wanted to ensure for its users, and they delivered. The Apple Watch has a battery life of up to 18 hours. Apple Watch wearers can also enjoy the water resistant feature that comes along with the smartwatch. This of course does mean that the watch has limits, so it can only endure sweat from exercising, rain, and water splash from washing hands. When buyers receive their brand new Apple Watch, they will also receive everything else that comes in the box. Along with the smartwatch, a magnetic charging cable, USB power adapter, watch band, and a quick start guide are all included in the box.

Apple wants wearers of the Apple Watch to be able to have their watch personalized to themselves. “It’s as much about personal technology, it is style and taste.” Cook said. With this, the watch is made to be customized in many ways. Wearers can purchase different colored bands, change the watch face display. “We thought not only of the function, but the way it looked.” Cook said. Since Apple watch users will be wearing the watch on their wrists everyday, Apple wanted them to like what they were wearing by allowing them to make it their own.

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Rachel Erickson, an IU freshman is thrilled after receiving a text from her mom. Rachel is an out of state student and being able to see her moms texts without having to be on her phone has been a game changer.

The watch is set to release early 2015, and Apple claims it will be worth the wait. Pricing for the watch starts at $349. The Apple Watch does require an iPhone to pair with. And will be able to pair with iPhone 5 and newer. Apple expects to have an even longer list of features as they continue to make more developments and improvements to the watch over time. Apple wants this new device to change and better the way that people are going about their everyday life. It is going to be a new part of people’s lives that will improve your day everyday. “Apple watch helps you live a better day” Cook said.

The apple watch is a very futuristic device with many features that can be useful in everyday lives. Apple is hopeful that this watch will improve people’s lifestyles.