Aidan OConnell, Purdue Football News: Draft Scout Player News

07/08/22 - QB Aidan OConnell, rSr/2023, Purdue

The Boilermaker Alliance is up and running and the power brokers of the Name, Image and Likeness collective on Purdue's behalf move closer to starting the process of building a bankroll, which will eventually be passed along to the school's athletes. As co-founder Jeff McKean pointed out, those athletes receiving NIL payments will have to earn their paychecks in the form of doing charitable work. That could mean a special appearance by a football player at a non-profit event. It could mean a specified number of social media posts from a recognizable basketball player promoting a worthwhile cause. McKean's group will raise the funds necessary to allow this year's group of athletes to benefit financially from the new landscape of college athletics. But here's one question - what happens in Year 2?

Once money has been collected and distributed to athletes through the 2022-23 athletic year, where does the Boilermaker Alliance turn in the second year? How much more funds will be needed in the second year and beyond? Purdue has plenty of donors who could keep the Alliance's bank account filled for years, but how often will McKean and his group return to the same individual, family or business? "That's going to be the question at every institution that's entered into this," Purdue athletic director Mike Bobinski told the Journal & Courier. "Right now, it's the shiny new object. Everybody is chasing the brass ring and I think the long-term viability and impact is yet to be determined. "I can't predict it with any certainty; I don't know but I do know it's not intended to be a one-year thing. This is meant to be a sustainable situation and that's why we're trying to structure ours in a way that provides that foundation for long-term sustainability instead of making a big splash right now and making a lot of headlines. That's not the way we were ever going to do this." - Journal and Courier

rSr/2023