Bloom will accept ski endorsements, but wants to continue football career

By Published On: June 7th, 2004Comments Off on Bloom will accept ski endorsements, but wants to continue football career

Bloom will accept ski endorsements, but wants to continue football career{mosimage}USSA — Former World Cup moguls champion Jeremy Bloom plans to accept ski endorsements and try to continue playing football for the University of Colorado.

In a press conference on campus after returning from Lake Placid, N.Y., where he competed last weekend at a World Cup moguls contest, Bloom said he would have his agent begin accepting endorsements this week.

He has given up lucrative ski endorsement money for two years, playing for CU as a wide receiver and returning punts and kickoffs. Bloom was a member of the freshman All-America Team in 2002, as selected by the Football Writers Association of America. He has challenged the NCAA in court but lost in a bid to overturn the NCAA ruling banning endorsement money, even if it’s in a totally different sport.

“The unfortunate side of this,” Bloom said, “is that the NCAA possesses the power to kick me off the football field and take my scholarship away, even though their own rule book states that an amateur student-athlete can simultaneously be a professional in another sport.”

“The U.S. Ski Team will continue to support Jeremy as it has the past two seasons,” said Alan Ashley, the USST’s vice president of athletics. “Jeremy is an extraordinary athlete who has a great opportunity as an Olympic athlete.”

Bloom, 21, a 2002 Olympian and the 2002 World Cup moguls champion, stands fourth in the moguls points after five World Cup events this season. He missed preseason training and began skiing after CU completed its football season.

He said he’s dreamed of winning an Olympic gold medal since he was nine, but NCAA restrictions bar him from raising the money to support that dream while he doubles as a college football player. Thus, he said, he has decided to accept “ski-related endorsements” but also continue his education at CU, returning for his third year of football eligibility.

He delayed entering college so he could pursue his Olympic dream with the 2002 season. CU football coach Gary Barnett gave him his blessing and has expressed continued support for Bloom’s aspirations.

“My desire to play college football is equally as strong as my desire to win an Olympic gold medal,” Bloom said. “I hope that the NCAA will finally realize that my desire to win in skiing is not criminal and that my pursuit for a gold medal doesn’t warrant expulsion.”

Share This Article

About the Author: Pete Rugh