As of recent times MAKEACHAMP has had the pleasure to entertain a few young kids from Canada participating in football competitions in the USA. This compelled me to think about the humongous world of junior football all the way to the massively popular college level. Where would crowdfunding fit into all this? This blog post hopefully answers this question and maybe brings up further discussion on a very exciting topic that is still evolving.
Firstly, let us beginning at the high school and junior level. This so far in Canada to be growing in popularity. With the International Bowl in Texas this year many young Canadian athletes who are representing their country are starting campaigns and this is causing a lot of excitement at MAKEACHAMP. Football at the junior/high school level seems to have the same issues as senior athletes from other sports that do not get enough funding. Crowdfunding can bridge a funding gap that occurs in high school and junior level football.
The usual costs of travelling , equipment and training are all applicable at that level. Crowdfunding is a remedy for all those issues and therefore it is natural that it can penetrate the world of football. It is a fallacy to believe that football has massive funding from every league and at every age category. College and Professional football are the only levels that benefit from astronomical funding.
Arena Football and the Women’s football are two areas that could benefit from crowdfunding because of the reduced funding that these two receive. Though it seems at first like a longshot there are junior female or arena athletes that would definitely benefit from a crowdfunding campaign. At this moment I do not know if there has a been campaign of that sort but I wouldn’t be surprised if there have already been some.
On a geographical level, Canadian football is more likely to entertain the idea of crowdfunding because of its lower profile and significantly lower funding. At the college level the Vanier Cup in Canada is nowhere the scale of the BCS 2016 College Football Playoff National Championship. Any college football player in Canada would be more receptive to a crowdfunding campaign to travel, train and compete than a college player in the USA. The CIS has far less regulations that the NCAA and seems to be more open about crowdfunding. NCAA in November released a whole series of guideline concerning crowdfunding, follow this link for further details: (https://web1.ncaa.org/LSDBi/exec/edColumnDisplay?edColumnDisplaySubmit=Display&multiple=24139&division=1)
In conclusion, I hope 2016 sees more crowdfunding in football arise especially in the college ranks. Crowdfunding at the professional level is currently a near impossibility because of the severe restrictions by the NFL and the high quantity of funds required. However, at the junior , high school level crowdfunding is a reality and can gain even more traction if these campaigns prove successful. All remains to be seen with excitement in 2016.
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