NBC
At a time when most players are celebrating their alma maters, Alex Boone of the Minnesota Vikings showed his entrepreneurial spirit by taking advantage of a chance to promote a business venture to millions for free.
The brief moment of genius came during the introductions for the "Thursday Night Football" game, something typically seen during nationally televised NFL games. When it was Boone's turn, rather than mention that he was from (The) Ohio State University, Boone instead said, "Offensive Line Performance."
That is not a university.
It turns out that Offensive Line Performance is a training facility for offensive linemen founded by former Pro Bowl center LeCharles Bentley. It also appears that Boone is involved with the business. It is not clear if he is an investor, but he does have at least one video from the company that can be purchased in which he teaches pass blocking techniques.
In the past we have heard players eschew their colleges and name their high schools instead. But this is the first time we can recall a player promoting a business venture.
While this is an ingenious move on the part of Boone, it is a little scary what kind of can of worms this might open. NBC charges $560,000 for a 30-second commercial and Boone just got a big promo in for free. It will be interesting to see if the NFL will try to stop players from taking advantage of the free publicity or if they even have the power to intervene in what happens during the network broadcast.
The NFL did not immediately respond to Business Insider for a request to comment.