One of the great things about playing sports at a high level is that it gives you options. Career-wise, it could set you up for life as a professional, of course. But even short of that, it can open doors for you in marketing, business, coaching, sports management and other vocations. On a personal level, elite sport gives you tons of opportunities to meet people from all walks of life, make lifelong friends and develop contacts, travel the world and learn from experience. And educationally, if you’re a young, talented player who does well enough at school, it can be an avenue by which you might attend some of the best institutes of higher learning in the world.
The thing about having options, however, is that you have to make choices. And sometimes those choices are difficult.
For many young hockey players about to leave high school, one significant choice is between going on to play in a Canadian major junior league or enrolling in a U.S. NCAA college program. It’s a highly personal decision—there’s no one right answer for everyone—and as I pointed out in a couple 3/8ths of a Thought posts late last year, each has its strengths and potential weaknesses. Making the right choice for the player and their family means carefully weighing those against educational and career goals, as well as the quality of the program or team they are deciding on.
Yet in addition to those factors, there is one other factor that can loom pretty large for many kids and their families: money.
Now, let me begin by dispelling the myth, so popular among Canadian hockey parents, that if their kid is good enough, he or she can win an all-expenses-paid trip to the U.S. college of their choice. The reality is that those kinds of athletic scholarships, especially for hockey, are few and far between. Division I schools offer only 18 athletic scholarships per team, and coaching staff can divvy those up any way they choose among the 25 or so players on the roster. And some universities (like the Ivy League schools, for instance) don’t offer sports scholarships at all. So if you’re investing in your kid’s hockey career in hopes they’ll get a free ride at an American university—well, think again.
Yet it is fair to say that in many cases, financial assistance to promising athletes, in the form of athletic, academic and/or need-based scholarships, is often more available in the States than in Canada.
On the other side of the equation, major junior hockey players earn a monthly stipend of between $250 and $450—not a lot—and they get free housing with a billet family if they are playing away from home. They also have a path to financial assistance for higher education. If they don’t go on to the pros, players are entitled to receive one free year of postsecondary education for every year they play major junior hockey (and a “year” is typically defined as a single game in a given season). So, while their academic path might be delayed, it is not necessarily nullified by taking this route.
If that strikes you as a roughly equal set of incentives from both the NCAA and major junior side, I wouldn’t argue too much with you. But something happened in recent years that might change the equation.
Back in 2021, after a series of court decisions, the NCAA decided to stop forbidding college athletes from earning money from sponsorships and endorsements that use their name, image or likeness—hence the moniker for the new set of rules, “NIL.” In effect, the reversal of the NCAA’s long-standing requirements for amateur status means that college athletes can now potentially earn quite a bit of money while playing collegiate sport and attending a U.S. school.
There have been several NIL deals valued in the millions, mostly featuring football stars like Bo Nix or basketball players like Bronny James. There haven’t been any hockey mega-deals yet, at least not that I know of, which is hardly surprising given hockey’s relatively minor presence in the U.S. college firmament. But that could well change in coming years, and the next Connor Bedard or Macklin Celebrini might just come out of an NCAA program already a multi-millionaire.
The potential isn’t just for the elite of the elite, though. While national sponsorships through NIL might get more attention, many smaller sponsors—restaurants, car dealerships, and other local businesses—are ready and willing to negotiate endorsements with college athletes (and teams) on a more modest scale. Consideration from these kinds of sponsors can range widely, from monetary compensation to free food.
But that’s not nothing. And the point is, even if a player will never make it to the first round of the draft or even into pro hockey, they could still earn a few bucks (or burritos) and supplement their income while getting an education.
That is a quick-and-dirty summary of NIL and what it means, but the reality is more complicated. (It always is.) There is no national policy that applies everywhere, and NIL isn’t legal in all states. Additionally, as of right now, Canadian athletes aren’t able to capitalize on the new NIL legislation, as it would violate the terms of their student visa, which prohibits employment. National governing bodies of each sport have their own rules. As well, individual schools have policies that might prohibit or restrict endorsement and sponsorship deals. In short, it can all get pretty complex pretty quickly, though a few companies and digital marketplaces have sprung up to help students navigate it all (and many of them operate at no cost to student athletes).
Another interesting wrinkle to all this is that historically, Canadian major junior players have been ineligible to go on to play in the NCAA, which considers them professionals because of that few hundred bucks they get as a stipend. But as Scott Stinson pointed out in a recent National Post article, how meaningful is that distinction now? If the NCAA changes its policy, we might someday see junior players spend a couple of years in Canada and then transfer to the U.S.—and potentially make some endorsement money. Mike and I always tell players and families that money should never be the only consideration when making career decisions, and that rule applies here, too. But money is still a consideration, and depending on the family’s situation and means, it might be more of a factor for some than for others. NIL may not be enough on its own to make them decide to take the NCAA route over the major junior path, but it just might be enough to tip the balance when they are weighing their options.
