My hopes go out to all victims involved.

it still troubles me that our student/athletes “endorse” or “sponsor” parties like this. It still seems like exploiting their Bruin status for the financial profit of the promoters.

From the get go, the enterprise seemed sleazy to me.

To me, the tragic violence reinforces the point that our student/athletes have to be very careful about lending their names to questionable events.

I assume they do not get any of the money. So, can someone tell a Geezer why they do it?

Did a quick search and found this Blog: http://www.sportsagentblog.com/2006/03/05/can-olympicstudent-athletes-obtain-endorsements/

Here’s what caught my eye:

NCAA Bylaw 12.4.1.1: A student-athlete may not receive any remuneration for value or utility that the student-athlete may have for the employer because of that publicity, reputation, fame, or personal following that he or she has obtained because of athletics ability.

Also, the Bylaws explicitly say that once an individual has become a student-athlete, he/she cannot participate in intercollegiate athletics if he/she accepts remuneration by endorsing a product or allows a company to use his/her name in advertising their product.

I didn’t do definitive research. But, I wonder if sponsoring a party shows good judgment.

I guess the athletes will say that they were “hosts” not “endorsers”. But, it does look like their names, and institutions were used to promote a “product” — a pay-to-go party.

Again, I did very superficial research. There may be stuff that proves me wrong. But, I still think it does not pass the smell test.