Katie Ledecky is 19-years-old, just won five medals at the Olympics, four of them gold, and has become a household name right next to Michael Phelps.
Her marketing appeal is about as high as it will possibly ever get.
That’s today.
Before the Olympics sports marketing expert Bob Dorfman said that Ledecky could make $5 million annually in endorsements if she did well. Turns out she did more than well, she destroyed almost everyone else in the pool competing against her.
So naturally she’s going to cash in while the getting is good, right?
Wrong.
She’s going to enroll at Stanford so she can swim in college events and earn dick.
The amazing part is that she said that the decision wasn’t even hard for her to make.
Appearing on ESPN Radio’s “Mike and Mike” radio show Ledecky was asked if it was a difficult decision (via Business Insider)…
“No, it wasn’t,” Ledecky said. “I’ve always wanted to swim collegiately and have that experience. I think it is going to be a lot of fun to be on a team with some really great friends and great swimmers and also just go to class with them.”
Ledecky delayed her enrollment for a year to concentrate on the Olympics. She is also going to part of a pretty impressive swim team that will also include Olympic medalists Simone Manuel and Lia Neal.
“I know we have a really great team, and I am excited to get to Stanford and see what we can do,” Ledecky said.
I’m sorry. I get that she wants to whole college experience and all, but the point of going to college is mostly so you can make money after completing it. She doesn’t need college. She could be earning $5 million annually RIGHT NOW and still be swimming – just not against college student athletes, but professionals.
If Ledecky still wants the college experience she can get it the way Michael Phelps did by going to college, being a volunteer coach and swimming and hanging out with the other swimmers on the team. Meanwhile, he was making bank all along the way.
Sure, there’s a chance that Ledecky could also be like Phelps and just add to her medal haul in four years, but I’d like to remind everyone of the tale of one Missy Franklin.
Remember when Franklin at age 17 won four golds and a bronze at the 2012 Games then decided to forgo making money in order to compete in college? No worries, right? Everyone just assumed she would show up in Rio this year and keep piling on to her medal total.
Turns out she all but disappeared from our TV sets during the Olympics as she finished 8th, 7th and 11th in three events. Now who is going to sign Franklin, 21, to a multi-million dollar endorsement deal?
I know what I’d do, but I’m no record-setting swimmer, so my perspective is obviously much different.
Than again, if the NCAA would let her have her money, money she earned before she even competed for Stanford, we wouldn’t be having this discussion would we?