John Calipari set to donate $1 million made last year from Kentucky’s Facebook docuseries
By Adam Spencer
Published:
Someday, college players may be able to make money from their own likeness, but that is not the case right now.
Therefore, when the Kentucky basketball team agreed to take part in a Facebook docuseries last year called “Inside the Madness: Kentucky Basketball,” coach John Calipari earned $1 million while the players got nothing.
However, per a report from Steve Berkowitz of USA TODAY, Coach Cal made sure to tell his players that, should they allow the camera crew to follow them, he’d donate all $1 million to charitable causes:
“In a perfect world, some of the money we made from the Facebook series would have been distributed to our players,” Calipari said in the statement. “Our rules simply won’t allow it. Instead, I’m proud of how they chose to allow themselves to be part of doing something that would make a difference in the lives of so many other people through charitable donations.”
Calipari said more than $600,000 of the money has been donated to at least eight nonprofit organizations, including the Jimmy V Foundation and the Urban League of Lexington-Fayette County. He said an additional $141,000 went toward debt relief for 19 students in Kentucky’s College of Education.
The remaining money reportedly went to helping former managers, players and coaches at schools where Calipari has coached (Memphis, Massachusetts and Kentucky) help pay off student loans for their children.
That’s a great gesture, and it’s money Calipari doesn’t need anyway, as he made $7.45 million from Kentucky last season.
Adam is a daily fantasy sports (DFS) and sports betting expert. A 2012 graduate of the University of Missouri, Adam now covers all 16 SEC football teams. He is the director of DFS, evergreen and newsletter content across all Saturday Football brands.
