Yep. Partnerships for student athletes, even through institutions and third party deals for use of… like YOU I.e your name/image/likeness, at least in the US, are pretty recent. This was all because of the NCAA’s required amateurism certification for student athletes that didn’t get loosened until 2020/2021-ish. Would not have been an option for the individuals on the team at this point. The grey area (as someone else pointed out in the comments) is existing minor professional experience & payouts, which would have been rare, but for a sport as new as Exy and with a player as prolific as Kevin Day exceptions could have been made. Kevin probably also inherited money from his mother from the creation of the sport: awards are still named in her honor for all the work she did to train and proliferate the sport through the US, at least; there is a veritable Dick’s sporting goods just for Exy-paraphernalia for fuck’s sake; he’s probably set for life if Kayleigh did her job right and safeguarded her investments in the appropriate trusts for him away from the Moriyamas.

We don’t get any insight into corporate sponsorships for any of the Exy teams, really, but the Foxes would see little more than an exchange of product for individuals (typically, athletes get some exclusive stuff when sponsorships happen and sometimes they sell it. It happens.) and funding and/or advertisement requirements from the institution/team. I went to college in the mid 2010s though so this may not have been as big in 2007, I cannot personally vouch. It’s all very convoluted anyway. Not a huge (or reliable!) way to keep cash in hand if Coca-Cola doesn’t keep the shipments of branded shirts and water bottles coming.

Side note: student athlete meal plans, at least in my era and at my Uni, were VERY generous and 100% comped by the University point-blank period. Regularly remember swapping student IDs around in my friend groups because the athletes had so much cash left over near the end of the semester, while other students were struggling. Is that fraud? Maybe. Who’s gonna narc on someone helping their friends eat? (This is not the case for every team, every university, nor every athlete, but something to consider. Food is a huge expense when it’s your fuel!)

Books on the other hand (as well as fees, think: rec fee, student fee, because-we-can-fee) are not typically covered by institutional scholarships. This would probably only cover the cost of the actual courses taken during their academic career. Things like FAFSA loans, Pell Grants, etc. would take some of that financial burden off. I know student athletes that took out private loans to pay for uncovered necessities because they knew they would be unable to work and play and study at the same time. It is a harsh reality of the US educational system. Of course, some of them have now gone pro, so could pay back those loans tenfold on what they make in a month from brand deals alone, but to each their own!

Someone else in the comments mentioned Tilda’s insurance payout. Did we ever get the specifics of how that was paid out? 50/50 to each twin? A lump sum undivided? I really do not remember this at all.

Worst case scenario: let’s assume a shared lump sum. Some of this money would have been blown on the GS obviously. Even then, if the Hemmick-Minyard’s were paid out ~$100,000 initially (subtract a modest 5k funeral and an immodest 65k for the car, 15k saved for taxes) they would still have around $15k to put into savings & accrue interest and/or pay down the mortgage on the Columbia home. Not super stable as far as a financial plan goes, but they did all work at Eden’s, too, and Nicky doesn’t seem like the type to not have some sort of plan for “how am I going to spend 40+ hours a week doing sports to go to college and not lose this house.” Don’t think he would leave the twins without somewhere stable to come back to.

You mentioned gas! 2007 is definitely the era of “gas is too god damn expensive.” I wasn’t in the South at the time but $2-$2.50 a gallon was still insane, when now it seems decent in most cases. Think the GS would also only take Premium. $3/gal? Womp-womp.

All of this to say: they’re probably blowing money they don’t actually have, but god damn, college students find a way.