UBooster is a free, interactive platform that allows college fans to support their favorite athletes by creating trust funds for these players to help compensate them for their playing time and provide money to help them transition to post-collegiate life.
This is a win-win for both college athletes, who get money to help them out, and fans, who hopefully get to see their favorite athletes play at their favorite schools.
UBooster works by allowing fans to create an account on UBooster.org and automatically receive 10 UBooster Points. They can then immediately apply these points to their favorite high school athletes who appear on the site.
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Fans can also contribute their own money to an athlete’s Trust Fund, which creates more points in addition to the 10 originally given. For example, $10 is equal to 100 points. These points are then applied to an athlete’s Heat Index.
When giving points, the fan can choose his or her favorite school, and when the athlete checks who has donated points and money, he or she can see how much fans of certain schools have pitched in. This could entice the athlete to go to the school that his or her fans want.
“The idea is to engage fans in a way that has never before been possible… In this era we think that fans want a voice, and this is an opportunity for doing so. Contributions are capped at $500, so this is not an effort to have a wealthy donor give $100,000 in order to sway an athlete’s decision. It’s a platform where ordinary fans can give a few dollars, support their schools, show the athletes their support, and get involved rather than just waiting for the next team to take the proverbial field,” said Robert R. Morgan, CEO of UBooster.
The athlete’s Heat Index is just a measure of fans support and UBooster makes sure that there is a “buyer beware” that dissuades fans from trying to offer large sums of money to bribe players to attend certain schools.This Platform Lets Fans Create Trust Funds For Their Favorite College Athletes
“This should be fun, and we want to raise funds for these athletes. Nevertheless, we’re not trying to absurdly impact the recruiting process nor take over the role of the coaches, schools, etc. Ideally we would see thousands of fans making small donations – the essence of crowdfunding – that help these players while making the entire process more interactive and entertaining,” said Morgan.
The Trust Fund will be given to the athlete upon college graduation, regardless of the school he or she ended up attending. The money can be used to help them with transitioning after college, like moving expenses, job training, or graduate education.
In the future, UBooster plans to extend their list of athletes to additional sports for both men and women. They also plan to continue adding it to the site to make it engaging for everyone who logs on.
“We’ll have Recruiting News similar to some of the “voyeur sites” and we want to become the go-to site for information related to the landmark O’Bannon and Jenkins court cases. We’ll add blogs and expert analysis – some legal, some social – related to those cases and their impact on high school and college athletics,” said Morgan.
They also plan on adding content for high school players themselves by developing videos and webinars on various topics, like “Building Your Brand” and “How to Navigate the NCAA’s Rules and Regulations.
“The site should, and will, become much more than just a way for fans to drop a few dollars into the Trust Funds for these athletes,” said Morgan.