Representatives from the N.C. High School Athletic Association spoke with the State Board of Education on Wednesday morning about a hot topic in high school sports — name, image, and likeness.

For about 40 minutes, NCHSAA Commissioner Que Tucker and Tod Morgan, the chair of the NCHSAA NIL Committee, provided insights into how NIL policies work in high schools across the country and why it is an issue that North Carolina needs to address.

“We have listened to our sister states across the country and our membership has said, ‘We need to do something so we’re not caught trying to catch up to an issue that is in place,'” Tucker said.

Tucker went through a presentation that consisted of many slides explaining how NIL policies work in other states, some of the challenges and concerns associated with the policies, and how solutions can be reached.

One of the major themes of Tucker’s presentation revolved around what high school NIL is and what it is not.

“It’s not about paying students to play, so I want to make sure you understand that. It’s not what this policy would be … it becomes cloudy or gets misrepresented, it is not paying students to play,” Tucker said. “It’s not about pay to play, it’s about using your name, your image, and your likeness because you own it.”

Morgan said their research showed the average NIL deal for high school athletes in other states was worth between $60-$120 and required a 3-4 hour time commitment. He said less than 1% of high school athletes will sign “big time” NIL deals.

“We don’t look at this as something that’s a get rich quick scheme,” he said. “We were trying to be proactive in creating a policy to protect our student-athletes. We have to separate college NIL and high school NIL. College, it’s big money, you’re trying to recruit the best … the schools with the biggest pockets get the best recruits.”

Morgan noted that recruiting is illegal in the NCHSAA and having an NIL policy in place would not change that.

“You couldn’t use NIL money to entice an athlete to come over to your school,” Morgan said.

The N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association, which governs high school athletics for about 100 private schools in North Carolina, as well as the bordering states of Georgia, Tennessee, and Virginia have all adopted NIL policies allowing high school athletes to profit from their name, image, and likeness. Tucker and Morgan both said there are concerns that NCHSAA athletes may leave for other schools where they can take advantage of NIL opportunities.

“(The NCISAA is) not interested in their schools recruiting (students) to come and play here and leave that school. That’s not how their policy is setup, and it’s not setup so that independent school can say, ‘We’ll pay you that amount of money.’ Now they can say, ‘If you come to us, there’s an opportunity for you to sign a NIL deal.’ That’s what we’re starting to see,” Tucker said.

Another key point raised was the need for education about financial and legal issues that could surround NIL deals.

“We need to make sure we’re doing our educational duty, and that they understand the legal implications when they sign a NIL agreement, and maybe what the tax implications might be,” Tucker said.

Morgan said he has heard stories about athletes signing NIL deals without knowing the impact on the family’s tax situation, which could also impact their ability to qualify for benefits like Pell Grants.

As the principal at C.B. Aycock High School in Wayne County, Morgan said the need for transparency around NIL deals will help schools educate families. The guidelines the NCHSAA introduced in 2023 required NIL deals be reported to the school, which Morgan says is critical transparency.

“As we are hopefully able to have transparency … we can help provide some level of guidance. There’s some level of education that has to happen on all levels, especially when it comes to financial literacy,” he said. “The idea of transparency is to help us guide and identify the students and families we need to help. We’re in the business of helping young people.”

Morgan said putting rules in place around NIL is necessary to create the transparency, and he said that’s necessary because NIL activities are already taking place in North Carolina high schools.

“Things are going on anyway. There are businesses reaching out to student-athletes saying, ‘Come over here and do this for my business and I’ll give you some side money,'” he said. “We need policies to guide those families and protect those student-athletes.”

The State Board of Education, which adopted a rule barring students from participating in NIL activities in June, is expected to consider a permanent rule on NIL as early as September.

Wendell Hall, an at-large member of the State Board of Education who also served on the NCHSAA NIL Committee, said the guidelines provided by the NCHSAA give the board “a good framework for us to build upon.”

“Whatever we come up with, we are going to have to come back and revisit this thing time and time again in order to get in compliance with laws,” Hall said. “It needs to be emphasized, it’s not pay to play. That gets confused out there, and we have to make sure that whatever we develop states that clearly. It’s an opportunity.”

Some board members expressed some hesitancy about opening the door to NIL in high schools. Concerns ranged from impacts on team chemistry when some students have NIL deals and others don’t, to how the rules would be enforced. However, most board members who spoke during the meeting seemed to acknowledge it was an issue that had to be addressed.

“This is an incredibly complex and difficult step we have to take, but I think … we have got to take the step. We can’t just say, ‘We’re not going to do anything, it’s too complicated,'” one board member who was attending the meeting virtually said.

More than 30 states have already adopted high school NIL policies, including three of the four states that border North Carolina.

Source: highschoolot.com