NIL goes beyond the NCAA
Name, image, and likeness (NIL) rights are increasingly asserted in collegiate sports, but lately high school athletics has confronted NIL issues as well.
After the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) announced individual athletes could market and profit from their NIL, prohibitions against high school athletes capitalizing on the same NIL rights have begun to fall away. Executive Director of the National Federation of State High School Associations Dr. Karissa Niehoff commented that the NCAA’s change does not affect high school athletes and member-state rules prohibiting athletes “from receiving money connected to wearing their school uniform.” However, as Dr. Niehoff acknowledged, high school athletics are governed state-by-state and several are revisiting their rule books.
In California, the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) has taken the position that their rules never prohibited athletes from profiting from their NIL rights, as the CIF is unwilling to declare an athlete ineligible for also participating in the state’s film and television economy. New York and New Jersey have joined California in granting high school athletes NIL rights.
While states make or consider NIL changes for high school athletes, some athletes do not want to wait on profiting from their NIL rights. Top basketball recruit and scheduled 2023 high graduate Mikey Williams announced a deal with a sports agent and a multiyear endorsement deal with Puma. Williams avoided potential state NIL restrictions because he attends an independent high school in North Carolina, which is not governed by the North Carolina High School Athletic Association (NCHSAA).
Some details of NIL will vary from state to state. Student athlete compensation remains a volatile and complex issue. Both schools and athletes wishing to protect their NIL and earning potential should consider experienced intellectual property attorneys to help navigate these uncharted waters.