House v. NCAA settlement winners and losers: Athletes take monumental step, non-revenue sports at risk

Culture drives commerce. The principle has been the core philosophy behind everything Deion Sanders has brought to Colorado. Steadily, Sanders made Colorado something much more than just a football team. He turned it into a sensation, the benefits of which several Buffs players are now reaping. Sanders has aced the business side of things. Just like his confidence and legacy, the Buffs players are now picking up on how to leave an impact as massive as Sanders and to make money from it. Travis Hunter learned it the best.
The Buffs going 4-8 in the previous season was a known affair. Buffs even ranked 12th, the last, in the Pac-12 conference in 2023. Yet their skyrocketing popularity didn’t diminish a bit after such mediocre numbers. We are talking about all the CU single-game tickets selling out even before the regular season has started, people! Just another example of the publicity mastermind Deion Sanders is. Despite CU shattering hopes after its 4 initial wins, the players are still massive fan favorites. Travis Hunter knew perfectly how to leverage it to become the face of college football, a quality which head coach Prime is best known for. RJ Young, the host of The Number One College Football Show, had to chip in his two cents on exactly that. Deion Sanders and his troop always sell it big despite all the shade they garner regularly.
via Imago Credit; Social Media
“As much as ya’ll don’t like talking about Coach Prime, here he is, once again, running it smooth. Video game industry, worth about $180 billion in 2022. In the US alone worth about $46 million. College Football 2019, worth about $20 billion. Let’s be considerate and say $25. EA Sports were 34. Even they looked at Colorado Football and said, ‘nope we can make money putting a player on a cover in the middle who was on a team who made 4-8’,” Young said on his podcast, giving another slap to the Coach Prime detractors and telling them to zip it up.
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However, it was not all Deion Sanders this time. The guy who grew up to be a formidable two-way threat in the pro league, like Sanders once was a triple threat in the league, has already polished his business skills under Coach Prime.
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How Travis Hunter became the CU maverick
While critics beat up Colorado after the mere 4 wins the team had in 2023, Travis Hunter was not winning either. RJ Young reminded a day like that in his podcast, the day when Stanford mauled and trashed Colorado. “And the player that we chose got torched by Elic Ayomanor for 294 yards up and down the field,” Young said, transporting the CU fans right back to the spooky night of Friday the 13th when the WR pinned his third touchdown against Hunter’s helmet and dragged him into the end-zone.
via Imago Credits: Imago
Ayonamor recorded 13 catches for 294 yards and three scores that day, leaving the lost CU players in shambles. The comeback of Hunter after this was phenomenal. While the fans might need to wait for the Stanford vs. Colorado clash this season to witness Hunter’s reply to Ayomanor, Hunter has already won an even bigger accolade: a feature as a central athlete on the cover of EA Sports College Football 25 standard cover; a game that the CFB fans have been waiting for for more than 10 years.
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With the feature, Travis Hunter has set the formidable tone for the season. As Young rightfully put it, “That is how significant Travis Hunter is to Colorado.” Now all that is left for Hunter is for him to prove himself as an on-filed virtuoso this season.