The broader question is, How far can something like this go? It’s not like no one’s thinking about cashing in on mutagenically talented kids before they’re allowed to turn pro—or on the speculation that they might. Just look at the generally fucked up world of international soccer, where, in acquiring Neymar, Barcelona recently had to pay a transfer fee to both his Brazillian club and his “third party owner.” It’s all shady as hell when it gets down to the real speculative value of “owning” a player, which is getting at them when they’re young, before they’re established, and locking in a piece of a potential superstar and his total salary, not just “brand” earnings.
That’s unlikely to see a rise in the US, especially not in something as codified as an official stock index. It hasn’t come up domestically, but third party ownership has already been outlawed by the English Football Association. And player contracts are subject to whatever CBA is in place—those would have to be drastically reworked to even begin to handle arrangements like this.
So that’s where we are. A “stock offering” that’s really a workaround to sell what amounts to a portfolio of NFL action figures, and a “new market” that is kneecapped by business in the US not being as slimy as it is elsewhere. So no, this probably isn’t a broad paradigm shift so much as the founding of an ambitious new Pokémon card exchange brokerage.
Update: Here’s the SEC filing, which goes over the premissions Fantex is affording itself, though not, obviously, specifics for what you’ll see.
Article Appeared @http://regressing.deadspin.com/arian-fosters-personal-stock-offering-sounds-like-bull-1447360031/@kylenw