Arike Ogunbowale was just one of the 10 athletes announced to compete on the mini-season of Dancing With The Stars last week.
The University of Notre Dame basketball star, who caught the nation’s attention when she cinched the 2018 NCAA Division 1 Women’s Basketball Tournament this year, is partnered with Gleb Savchenko – however, the team hasn’t been doing any promo other than announcing she’s on the show.
Why is that? Because the NCAA has some strict rules about Arike‘s appearance.
The NCAA rules actually prohibit athletes from profiting on anything that results from “the publicity, reputation, fame or personal following that he or she has obtained because of athletics ability,” USA Today found out.
However, they found a loophole, and she can’t do any promotional work for the show, other than announcing she’s on it, because that would capitalize on her “athletics ability”; and any prize money she wins would be the result of her dancing achievements, however, and thus would be hers to keep.
So, that’s why you’re going to see next to no promo on her – there’s actually no official promo pic of Arike or Gleb, and only a still photo of her was used in the first promo for the season.
Still, be on the lookout for Arike and Gleb on the dance floor. We can’t wait to see what they’ve been working on!
Dancing With The Stars premieres Monday, April 30th on ABC.
