Tracy Austin won the US Open at 16, defeating both the #1 and #2 seeds (Evert and Navratilova, both HOFs). It may be bad for how we think about high school and college football, but other athletes make money at younger ages.

We tend to think about football as a form of symbolic combat between cities, states or neighborhoods. We don't see tennis players in the same way - they are just playing on the tour. This difference is why so many see the NIL as horrible. It is no more about the represented region (or religion) but about the individual player maximizing their profit.


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