Zero to millions in NIL benefits. Attorneys & agents aren’t jumping over hurdles to join the NCAA NIL bandwagon quite yet! There remains a lot of legalities and vagueness in the policy as the interim NIL takes effect. Some States have enacted their own NIL laws. Other States are lagging behind, New York being one, having not enacted their own NIL laws and therefore are carefully navigating the legal boundaries of the countrywide NCAA NIL policies. In addition to State NIL laws, colleges and conferences are permitted to develop their own protocols. The States of California and Florida and the collegiate institutions within, for example, have opened the floodgates and paved the way for NIL, having enacted their own specific NIL laws prior to the NCAA. The countrywide NIL policies laid out by the NCAA are not concrete, however, and are still open to lots of discussion and interpretation.
Does NIL apply to the benefit of high school athletes? While it has been discussed that NIL opportunities may not be used as a recruiting inducement or as a substitute for pay-for-play, NIL
also states that “PROSPECTIVE student-athletes may engage in the same types of NIL opportunities available to current student-athletes under the interim policy without impacting their NCAA eligibility.” Hmmm. For lawyers this may be construed as a legal loophole. Us lawyers are always looking for loopholes. That’s part of our job! According to SI, NCAA’s proposed NIL framework supports recruits in entering NIL agreements as long as those deals are disclosed to colleges before they sign with the school. But where does that leave their remaining amateur eligibility?
At the high school level, at least in the State of New York, athletes cannot benefit from NIL from wearing their high school jersey. They cannot earn money based on their identity as a high school student-athlete. If they do, they forfeiture their amateur status. BUT what about high school athletes competing with travel teams and non-school sports organizations? Technically they are not competing with or for their high school. Well I did some research since there appeared to be nil (excuse the pun) on the specifics of NIL in NYS. What I saw clearly delineated in the NY NYSPHSAA Bylaws (public schools), in pertinent part,
AMATEUR: A student who represents a school in an interscholastic sport shall be an amateur in that sport…When competing in non-NYSPHSAA sponsored events, an athlete forfeits amateur status in a sport by: Competing for money or other compensation…Receiving an award or prize of monetary value.
One may ask why can’t high school athletes benefit from NIL? Well one school of thought is that it creates a hostile and uncomfortable “locker room” atmosphere rather than a team environment and will destroy the essence of high school athletics. Another rationale is that high school sports is all about competing for and with the team as one, as opposed for the individual.
I am betting that some attorneys will be stepping up and challenging some of the “ambiguities” in the language of the bylaws. Take a look at California. High school athletes in California can profit from their NIL with the only restriction being an inability to utilize their high school’s name or marks, according to the California Interscholastic Federation. A CIF spokesperson confirmed this to 247Sports. That means outside of their team, they can benefit from NIL.
Exciting new landscape and I’m happy to be apart of this evolving process.
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