Miami punter Lou Hedley had to fly 13,000 miles to western Australia to cash in on his name.
The tattooed Aussie and thousands of other international athletes at American colleges have been told they can’t profit from their name, image and likeness on U.S. soil — though interpretations vary about what constitutes work — so some are trekking home to do it.
In Hedley’s case, it was a 37-hour journey that included a long stopover in Qatar.
“It’s a pain in the backside having to fly over but it’s all worth it,” Hedley told The Associated Press after a day of filming promotional spots for LifeWallet in the city of Perth, where he was also visiting family before his final season with the Hurricanes this fall. “I feel like I deserve to get a little bit of money, I’ve contributed wealth to the team (with) my name, image and likeness … so it was good to kind of get compensated for what I’ve been doing the last three years.”
