Canadian Coup
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Add more hype and pressure to Wiggins and more revenue and millions of miles of an expanded recruiting base. Several players that went into the NBA last year including the monster from Gonzaga are from Canada. Their Olympic team is fantastic. Many see this as an unfair advantage for KU that is being allowed by the NCAA. The Time Warner deal is making KU show up on Sports Center for a Pitt State game. Screw 2/3rd’s of KCMO, the largest fan base area, as long as the revenue pores in. I’m all for KU gaining this incredible recruiting edge, similar to Coach K’s national commercials, but can the fans be taken care of just a bit. So far the only bone thrown was the Saturday morning open scrimmage.
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Thanks for posting, Lumpy. I agree that the NCAA, the universities, and the media are all benefiting greatly from the increased exposure while the fans get a little boost from seeing more games and the players get essentially nothing. I wish I had some simple and effective solution. I don’t see how it can continue for much longer.
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I will benefit greatly. I live in Canada, and might not have to go through the e-contortions needed to view games online that are not allowed to be broadcast outside the US (e.g., anything on ESPN).
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Glad you’ll get to see more, if not all, of the games @tundrahok! I think this is a great thing for KU! I always love seeing Jayhawk fans in other states and countries. I always say Rock Chalk when I run into a fellow 'Hawk.
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Maybe they will start playing Oh Canada after the Star-spangled Banner.
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I’m wonder how big Wiggins is in Canada? Will the whole country be watching? I’m starting to wonder if Jaybate’s rants on the shoe companies pulling the strings in recruiting has some teeth? Think about this for a second. Nike is top dog in the states. UK and UNC are Nike schools and kind of had there way in recruiting in the states. I didn’t know until recently that Addis was a world power in the shoe business. Is Addis leading recruits from around the world (Kaun, Embid, Mario (Alaska is kind like it’s own country , and now Wiggins) to KU? Is KU becoming the college of choice around the world? Ok KU fans am I reaching or am I just losing my mind? ; - )
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A couple of hockey friends have heard of him, just because they pay attention to sports news. But he’s certainly not a household name yet. Let’s hope that changes! As in, maybe he will live up to the hype. Of course, to do that he needs to average 30 pts for the season and lead us to a national championship. And an undefeated season.
He might be better known in Ontario, where he’s from.
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You are losing your mind! Jk Louisville is an adidas school. Wiggins played for Nike sponsored teams before he came to Kansas. It’s not the brand! It will be interesting to see which company will get the wiggins shoe in the nba. Wiggins is doing great, he doesn’t need to average 30 points to be a superstar!
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Yea figured I was just losing my mind. It seems I read somewhere that Wiggins already has a shoe contract on the table with Addis for something like 160 million . Not sure on the amount of money but I do remember it being the most money ever giving in a shoe contract. All Wiggins has to do is finish the year and sign on the dotted line.
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@DoubleDD the amount reported was false. It’s going to be more like 7-10 million. Chump change
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I think you both may be right: I think I read it would likely be 10+ million a year over a bunch of years… which is how it gets over 100 million overall.
Amazing. This is for shoes.
It’s a fascinating business.
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I read some stats on blog popularity in Canada and the most-popular topics:
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Ice Hockey
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Moose Hunting Season
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Andrew Wiggins
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I’ll be in Edmonton on Tuesday night. I think the next exhibition game is on Tuesday night.
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@DoubleDD Adidas was a world power in sports apparel before Nike even existed. It still is the largest provider of soccer (most popular sport in the world) gear in the world… It also the current official uniform provider for the NBA. Jaybate’s claims notwithstanding, Adidas is power house in sports apparel.
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@bskeet it was a false report that claimed wiggins would make 140-160 million for his first 7-10y year contract. A few days later the contract amount was corrected to 7-10 million over 7 years by an anonymous source. I can’t find the article, but there are many that say the 140 million amount is false.
I think we all know the kid is gonna get paid, but unless he puts up Durant like numbers forget about 100mil+. I think 1-2 mil a year is probably too low also. I’d look closer to 5-7 million a year if Wiggins impresses. IMHO
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Since TSN will be broadcasting the games in a “variety of platforms” including the Internet, maybe they will stream some of the games that are blacked out in the State of Kansas and the Kansas City Metro area. On a similar note, I was able to watch the Last game on ESPN3 via Surewest in Olathe; my daughter lives in Lenexa and has AT&T as her Internet provider and the game was blacked out…go figure but I am not complaining.
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I stand corrected? It was more like 180 million.
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Let’s say it is $180m. And let’s say Adidas bball shoes cost $100-per pair. That’s 1.8m pair of Adidas (retail price). For a group discount on that level, you could buy at least 3m pair. Wiggins could fit a big part (or all) of youth basketball with a free pair of shoes and not really feel the financial impact. Yes… that’s a load of cash… but he’ll be a multi-multi-millionaire without it.
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I have no doubt he will. Didn’t say he wouldn’t. I was just saying the Kid has big dollars awaiting him. Don’t under estimate the money these super stars can make from endorsement deals. In some cases depending on the star they can make more in endorsement money than their salary.
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tundra, I travel to Ontario frequently, and most people seem to know who Andrew is in varying degrees. I also noted that after the Pitt St. game, TSN had a blurb that crawled across the screen…“Kansas F Andrew Wiggins scores 16 pts. in exhibition win vs. Pittsburg State” Hopefully, this means I can watch our games from my hotel room instead of going to a sports bar.
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That’s fantastic, Hawk8086. So far, the TV schedule for Tuesday night has hockey on TSN and NBA (Raptors) on TSN2. Maybe they’ll step up after preseason, or perhaps there’s another TSN station I’m not familiar with??
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They are only televising the regular season games.
