Georgia Says ‘Yes,’ Alabama Says ‘Not Yet’ to NIL Deals for High School Athletes
NIL has become one of the most talked-about topics among high school and college athletes, coaches, parents, and fans.
ITG Next takes a look at NIL and gives you an overview of what it is and how the student-athletes can benefit from NIL.
What is NIL?
NIL is an abbreviation that stands for Name, Image, and Likeness. At its most basic level, NIL is a way for high school and college athletes to benefit monetarily from using their name, image, and likeness for marketing or promotional purposes.
How Did NIL Get Started?
In 2008 former UCLA men’s basketball player Ed O’Bannon discovered that EA Sports had produced a video game based on college sports that used his likeness, which he had not consented to or been compensated for.
In 2009 O’Bannon sued the NCAA for the right to be compensated for the commercial use of his name, image, and likeness. O’Bannon claimed that NCAA rules prohibiting him and other college athletes from such compensation were a violation of federal antitrust laws.
Nineteen other plaintiffs joined O’Bannon’s class action lawsuit against the NCAA, and in 2015 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit decided in O’Bannon’s favor.
Ultimately, O’Bannon helped usher in changes to the way college athletes are compensated for their NILs.
After years of court arguments and proceedings on how the NCAA should handle compensating its student-athletes, a ruling in the summer of 2021 brought about the creation of new rules by the NCAA that removed restrictions on college athletes receiving paid endorsements and sponsorship deals.
NIL at the High School Level
State associations governing high school athletics have now started allowing high school athletes to benefit from NIL deals. At the beginning of 2024, approximately 33 states had a high school athletics association permitting some form of NIL.
As of March 1, 2024, the GHSA in Georgia does allow NIL for high school students, and the AHSAA in Alabama does not.
NIL in Georgia
State associations that currently allow high school athletes to benefit from NIL agreements each have their own specific rules and restrictions regarding what is and isn’t allowed, although practically every state prohibits the use of any reference to the student’s school, including the school’s name, logo, mascot, uniform, or other intellectual property that implies an affiliation with the school.
This is true in Georgia, which was the 30th state to allow student-athletes to benefit from NIL deals.
Although over half of the 50 states in the U.S. allow some form of NIL for high school athletes, NIL deals have actually been slow to take off at the high school level.
According to GHSA Executive Director Dr. Robin Hines, as of Feb. 28, 2024, only 33 of the approximately 430,000 high school student-athletes in Georgia have entered into an NIL agreement. That’s less than 0.01%.
NIL is still in the early stages, but as it continues to evolve and opportunities continue to grow, you can expect many more high school athletes to become involved in NIL at some level.
NIL in Alabama
Although Alabama was one of the first states to approve NIL for its high school athletes, the law was repealed in July 2022, preventing any Alabama high school student-athlete from securing an NIL agreement.
Since then, Rep. Jeremy Gray has become an outspoken proponent of making NIL available to high school athletes in Alabama. In December 2023, Gray filed House Bill 25 to once again allow NIL among Alabama’s high school students.
HB25 proposes restrictions similar to those laid out in Georgia’s NIL bylaws. In addition to prohibiting the use of a member school’s intellectual property and any trademarked GHSA logos or acronyms as part of an NIL deal, the bylaws also specify that an NIL agreement cannot be contingent on an athlete’s specific athletic performance or achievement.
As of May 20, 2024, the Alabama House of Representatives has not ruled on whether to allow NIL to move forward at the high school level in Alabama
High School NIL Agreements Come in All Shapes and Sizes
So far, NIL deals at the high school level have been few and far between. They range from smaller deals between local businesses and high school athletes who are well known in their communities to bigger deals between national brands and nationally ranked high school recruits.
The First NIL Deal in Georgia
It is believed that Mount Pisgah Christian School boys basketball standout Isaac Bealer, a point guard, became the first Georgia high school athlete to sign an NIL deal.
Bealer’s deal with Webb Wealth Advisors, which was cemented within hours of the GHSA’s vote allowing NIL, is an example of a local business partnering with a local student-athlete to promote their services.
Icon Source, a marketplace that helps to negotiate and facilitate NIL deals between athletes and businesses, was directly involved in Bealer’s agreement with Webb Wealth Advisors.
“We facilitated that deal for them,” said Mick Hamilton, vice president of operations for Icon Source.
NIL Deals on a National Level
Soon after Bealer’s NIL deal materialized, three highly recruited high school athletes from Georgia signed their own NIL deals.
KJ Bolden and Sammy Brown, both five-star recruits, each signed NIL deals with Super Patch, a company that produces patches athletes can wear and that they claim will improve recovery and focus for athletes.
Carrollton High School quarterback Julian “JuJu” Lewis, also a five-star recruit, has signed several NIL deals and became just the second high school athlete ever to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Lebron James was the first.
Hamilton said that Icon Source was involved in all three of those NIL agreements. Icon has emerged as one of the leaders in facilitating NIL agreements involving both high school and college athletes.
These are examples of the larger, more lucrative NIL deals that occur with players who are well known on a statewide and national level.
The Future of High School NIL
As mentioned earlier, there are very few NIL deals among Georgia high school student-athletes.
“Right now high school NIL is still super new, and there’s just not that many high school athletes who have benefited from an NIL deal of any size,” Hamilton said.
Will that change? Hamilton thinks so, but it depends on the athlete.
“I tell high school athletes that you have to be marketable,” Hamilton said.
He said that even with the elite athletes, how well they do with NIL depends on more than just their athletic abilities.
“You may be a five-star athlete, but there are a lot of them in the country,” Hamilton said. “What is going to separate you from the others?
“Julian Lewis is a great QB, but he has a lot of other great traits too. He takes off the helmet, and that hair looks great, and he is very charismatic, and that represents a lot of what companies are looking for when it comes to NIL.”
What’s Next for NIL at the High School Level?
Hamilton expects NIL to continue to grow, and he has a good reason for thinking that.
“This is how things were in the beginning with NIL at the collegiate level, but it has obviously changed,” he said.
He said college athletic directors were dismissive of NIL when it first launched, but since then their stance has changed. Hamilton thinks the same will happen with high school NIL.
“Give it two or three years, and you’ll see a difference,” he said.
Alabama High School Coaches Weigh-in on NIL
Kirk Johnson, Montgomery Catholic Preparatory School Head Football Coach:
“I’m not a fan of it (NIL). High school is the only spot left where the game is pure.”
Keith Ethridge, Auburn High School Head Football Coach:
“I am not totally against NIL, but I would just love to know how it would be structured and who will be responsible for making sure all the rules would be enforced. I would love to hear all of the details about NIL and how it would be policed in high school.
“I feel like it has gotten out of control in college, and I don’t want to see high school sports ruined. I just think if you start throwing money at high school kids the way they have done in college, it will cause corruption.”
Georgia High School Coaches Weigh-in on NIL
Ben Reaves, Milton High School Head Football Coach:
“I personally wish NIL was not a thing in high school sports, but as we know everything that occurs at the college level will eventually trickle down to us.
“In my opinion, high school football is the purest version of the sport these days, and the more we try to mix in adult-like policies and finances, the less pure it can potentially become.
“However, it is here; it is a thing. And like (with) all new policies, I know Milton football will do everything we can to educate our athletes on the current rules and support any of them who may have an NIL opportunity come their way.”
Sean Calhoun, Colquitt County High School Head Football Coach:
“If it’s a passionate fan that loves that football program and wants to throw a few bucks at the star player and promote his business, great. If it’s a few kids, unicorns basically, who can get a national deal, great. Make whatever money they can.
“But if it becomes a recruiting tool to get a kid to come play, not great.”
John Mohring, Wayne County High School Head Football Coach:
“I’m all for kids in both high school and college being compensated, but the way in which it happens needs to be policed. People are always looking for ways to use these types of things to their advantage.
“Obviously, the NIL system is a little broken at the college level, and, hopefully, that will be fixed before they try to introduce it at the high school level.”
Brian Nelson, Mary Persons High School Head Football Coach:
“I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing, but it’s still very much in its infancy stage right now to know what the long term effects will be at the high school level.
“Will it affect where a kid plays football? That’s a big concern, and that’s where it gets to be a very gray area as far as the rules are concerned. In fact, I think it’s already a very gray area right now.”
