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Dwyane Wade and Ray Allen: Olympic Basketball Team Members Should Get Paid

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Let's get their boy Obama, to help them pay there fair share. Maybe a tax on people who play sports, then maybe we can pay them.
 
Wow. If I had the athleticism and skill to play in the Olympics for MY country: of course I would do it for free! People watch the Olympics because it is a chance for the best of the best of America's (and other countries') athletes to lay it all out on the line and to just have some fun with it. Dwyane Wade is such a ignorant prick sometimes. He used to be someone I looked up to, now after "The Decision", the "Loyalty Tweet", and this, he just seems like an overpaid, pompous ass to me.
 
Allen doesn't say they should get paid from the olympics for playing, he said they should get paid royalties from Nike for the jerseys that are sold with their names on the back. Unless they are running for office, famous people legally have an automatic right to publicity over the use of their own names. Somehow college and olympic athletes are required to forfeit those rights as a price of participating. As far as I know, they never gain those specific rights back. 20 years later you can still buy Michael Jordan olympic basketball jerseys. If you think Jordan was okay with it, why did he decide to cover the addias logo while he was on the stand to receive his gold medal.

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I'm pretty sure that he did that because he is a Nike athlete and didn't want to give Adidas any business. Nike probably told him to do that. Check out LeBron's warm up jersey (Adidas is the official supplier of the NBA)

lebron-james.jpg


I doubt that was accidental.

Notice the careful placement of Dwight Howard's shoes for the Olympic photo (Dwight is an Adidas athlete and Nike was the sponsor of those olympic jerseys)

USA_basketball_team.jpg
 
I'm pretty sure that he did that because he is a Nike athlete and didn't want to give Adidas any business. Nike probably told him to do that. Check out LeBron's warm up jersey (Adidas is the official supplier of the NBA)

I think that's what I said, he did it because Nike paid him to wear the shoes and Adidas didn't pay him to wear the jersey. Isn't that the the same issue here. Nike is selling apparel with all of these players names and numbers on them without paying anything to the players for doing so. It doesn't matter that some of these players are being paid by Nike for other reasons, they're still profiting for selling their names without compensating them. That's actually illegal under the right of publicity laws unless a person is running for office.

SOmehow the IOC and NCAA have established rules that violate federal copyright law. The NCAA makes millions off of these rule. The sponsors of the Olympics also make millions because of these rules. These profits go far beyond the money made hosting the games. As far as I can tell, they are still selling Michael Jordan Adidas olympic basketball jerseys, he still doesn't get anything for it.
 
I think that's what I said, he did it because Nike paid him to wear the shoes and Adidas didn't pay him to wear the jersey. Isn't that the the same issue here. Nike is selling apparel with all of these players names and numbers on them without paying anything to the players for doing so. It doesn't matter that some of these players are being paid by Nike for other reasons, they're still profiting for selling their names without compensating them. That's actually illegal under the right of publicity laws unless a person is running for office.

SOmehow the IOC and NCAA have established rules that violate federal copyright law. The NCAA makes millions off of these rule. The sponsors of the Olympics also make millions because of these rules. These profits go far beyond the money made hosting the games. As far as I can tell, they are still selling Michael Jordan Adidas olympic basketball jerseys, he still doesn't get anything for it.

My bad, I misinterpreted your first post a little bit. Long day.. I can see both sides of the issue and to be honest, I'm not entirely sure which side that I agree with. I'm sure that its pretty obvious that Nike (or whoever is sponsoring the Olympic athletes) is making a butt ton of money off of these basketball players, and those players aren't crazy for wanting to see some of that money (if someone was making a bunch of money off of me; I'd want a cut of it and you probably would too). However, in the Olympics, Team USA isn't just the men's basketball team. Team USA consists of ALL of the olympians competing for the red, white, and blue. You'd better believe that the young gymnasts who aspire to one day be Olympic gymnasts will want to wear Nike gear just like their idol. How do you decide who should get compensated and who shouldn't? I've read arguments that some of the money brought in through sales of olympic merchandise should be pumped into some of the lesser funded olympic sports because in theory, that could raise the playing field and help get better athletes into those fields. Getting better athletes into those fields will increase the odds of us winning medals in those fields which is good for the country, and in my opinion, boosting the morale of the country (which can be done by winning medals) is a better option than paying a select subset of the olympic athletes
 
My bad, I misinterpreted your first post a little bit. Long day.. I can see both sides of the issue and to be honest, I'm not entirely sure which side that I agree with. I'm sure that its pretty obvious that Nike (or whoever is sponsoring the Olympic athletes) is making a butt ton of money off of these basketball players, and those players aren't crazy for wanting to see some of that money (if someone was making a bunch of money off of me; I'd want a cut of it and you probably would too). However, in the Olympics, Team USA isn't just the men's basketball team. Team USA consists of ALL of the olympians competing for the red, white, and blue. You'd better believe that the young gymnasts who aspire to one day be Olympic gymnasts will want to wear Nike gear just like their idol. How do you decide who should get compensated and who shouldn't? I've read arguments that some of the money brought in through sales of olympic merchandise should be pumped into some of the lesser funded olympic sports because in theory, that could raise the playing field and help get better athletes into those fields. Getting better athletes into those fields will increase the odds of us winning medals in those fields which is good for the country, and in my opinion, boosting the morale of the country (which can be done by winning medals) is a better option than paying a select subset of the olympic athletes

this part is pretty simple, if apparel is sold with an athlete's name on it, that athlete gets paid a royalty for the use of his or her name. This shouldn't just be for team usa NBA players, it should be for any olympic athlete for any sport from any country who has olympic apparel sold with their name on it.
 
Do you know anything about the IOC? You clearly don't, based on your posts on this subject.
 
Bottom line - its no travesty they dont get royalties for Olympic gear and they should be content with the fact they get to represent the US and the American people - its a privilege. Wade was wise to back track on his comments so that he avoids any other idiotic commentary on the subject.
 
Do you know anything about the IOC? You clearly don't, based on your posts on this subject.

I guess you're talking to me? your post would add more to the discussion if you elaborated on what you're talking about. I'm not sure what I could have wrong when I never asked the IOC to change a thing on what they do with the money they bring in, I simply agreed with ray allen that olympic sponsors who sell apparel with athletes names on them should pay those same athletes a royalty for each sale. It doesn't matter the country or sport, under US law they legally are entitled to be paid when their name is used to sell a product. I suspect there are similar laws in at least some of the other countries, and US law should certainly apply to products sold in the US.

If someone buys a LeBron James, Dirk Nowitzki or Jennie Finch olympic jersey, those athletes should be paid something for that sale, which depends on the use of their name. Don't let your dislike for the heat or the millions NBA players make cloud your thinking. What if Jennie Finch said she should get reimbursed for the use of her name to sell her olympic jersey. It's the same principal. A principal US law is supposed to protect. The NBA and the players union negotiated what to do with these royalties, which are shared among all players under a group licensing agreement.

Somehow Olympic athletes (and NCAA athletes) are required to relinquish those rights.
 
The IOC is in Sweden. They are not governed by our copyright laws, they have their own. Secondly, your issue is with the makers of the jerseys/gear, who are the actual people making money off the stuff, not the IOC.
 
The IOC is in Sweden. They are not governed by our copyright laws, they have their own. Secondly, your issue is with the makers of the jerseys/gear, who are the actual people making money off the stuff, not the IOC.

and that's exactly what I said - the people making the jerseys should pay any athlete a royalty when selling any apparel with that athlete's name on it. The location of the IOC is totally irrelevant to the US laws regarding products sold in the United States.
 
Actually, my apologies, I misread your original post on the subject. We have somewhat the same views then.
 
This shouldn't be an issue at all. You play to represent the country. This isn't a business venture for athletes in any way shape or form but it is exposure on a global level. Your compensation is the gold medal and honor. If that doesn't motivate you, don't play.
 
This shouldn't be an issue at all. You play to represent the country. This isn't a business venture for athletes in any way shape or form but it is exposure on a global level. Your compensation is the gold medal and honor. If that doesn't motivate you, don't play.

representing your country means you have to give permission for Nike to profit off of your name, which has value because of your talent independent of your appearance in the olympics, without compensation?
 
representing your country means you have to give permission for Nike to profit off of your name, which has value because of your talent independent of your appearance in the olympics, without compensation?

That's correct. Love it or leave it. Tough shit.
 

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