A new crowdfunding site is allowing fans to pay professional athletes to achieve certain in-game challenges, and even tempt them from leaving their favorite team.
Fans who sign up for a free FanAngel account will be able to create their own roster of athletes and teams. They then add money to their account and extend challenges out to members of their roster. FanAngel will hold the money that was pledged on challenges in escrow. The money will be distributed to the player or team if they successfully complete the challenge. For college athletes, the money is held until they are eligible to accept it. If the athlete or team does not complete the challenge, the FanAngel member gets their money back.
80 percent of the pledged money goes to the athlete, 10 percent goes to their teammates, and the other 10 percent goes to charity and scholarship funds. FanAngel gets a nine percent upfront fee.
Collegiate athletes benefit the most from this service. It has been argued for years whether student athletes should get paid, and this service would provide them a means of income based directly on their performances.
For now, FanAngel complies with all NCAA rules. None of the athlete’s names are being used to promote the site, and the players see no interactions or transactions during their time in college.
All donation amounts are made public, but members can chose to remain anonymous.
Crowdfunding athletes is more common than you would imagine. USSA, the United States Ski and Snowboard Association, partnered with RallyMe, a fundraising site for athletes, and raised over $500,000 in 2013. That money has been used to help fund Olympic skiing and snowboarding athletes who do not have enough money to continue their athletic careers.
But FanAngel has a different idea in mind. The creator, Shawn Fojtik, was inspired by the departure of Brian Urlacher from the Chicago Bears. The site is dependent upon how much individuals are willing to spend to fund their favorite athletes.
The problem is that we are talking about millions of dollars. Perhaps a more realistic approach is to get millions of people on board, but chances are the league will put rules in place that will prohibit this from happening.
Imagine the NFL giving up power to allow the league to be dictated by an outside source of income, or the NCAA allowing college athletes to be funded through a loophole. This is obviously unlikely but it doesn’t hurt to dream does it?