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Josh Weinfuss, ESPN Staff Writer
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Purdue center Zach Edey has been frustrated with United States law that prevents him from capitalizing on NIL deals on American soil.
“I feel like I’m missing out on a lot of money,” Edey, the two-time AP Player of the Year, said Friday at the Final Four.
Since Edey, who is Canadian, is at Purdue on a student visa, he’s not legally allowed to make any money through NIL deals that take place in America. However, there are loopholes. For example, he can accept NIL money if the work that led to that money was done elsewhere.
Edey can do NIL deals when he’s back home in Canada or when he or Purdue travels internationally. He said Friday he can make money off jersey sales, which he described as passive income.
“It’s not like I can go film a commercial in West Lafayette,” Edey said.
Edey expressed hope that the law will eventually be revised to allow international players to make money on domestic soil.
“I hope they change it in the future,” he said. “I obviously have lost out on a lot of money this year. At the end of the day it needs to change, for sure. I understand kind of the legal process. It takes a while.
“It’s not like it’s an NCAA rule. It’s an American law. Anytime you try to go change that, I understand it takes a while. But I do think it needs to change.”
Not having the responsibility of working NIL obligations into his schedule has helped Edey focus more, he said.
“I don’t get distracted by that,” he added.
Edey said he’s also at a point where he doesn’t even want to hear about NIL deals that he can’t make.
“I try to stay out of that for the most part,” he said. “I have my agents deal with that. I’m a basketball player at the end of the day. That’s really what I’m focused on.”
Meanwhile, Purdue coach Matt Painter discussed his feelings about NIL on Friday and the need for deregulation for players punished in the past.
“We have to get some parameters around what we’re actually doing and what’s actually going on and not try to just do something so we can stay out of the courts,” Painter said. “That’s all things are happening because for a long time, what’s the product? The product is the player. They’re viewed as amateurs, but they weren’t amateurs.
“There’s a lot of money generated through what they’re doing. Name, image and likeness needed to happen. We just got to get some guardrails around it to be able to get there.”