The evolution of the era of name, image, and likeness opportunities has been moving quickly through the college landscape since the NCAA opened the doors a year ago. Now, the trend is racing through the world of high school athletics, and Pennsylvania is one giant step closer to allowing for that to happen as well.
Last week, the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association board passed a policy that will allow high school student-athletes to be compensated for use of their name, image, and likeness similar to how college athletes now can benefit. The policy must pass through three readings, or votes, in order to become the new official policy, so two more readings are needed for the policy. In that time, changes may be made before the policy becomes official.
If passed, Pennsylvania would become the latest state to allow for NIL deals to high school athletes. New York and New Jersey are among the states that allow for high school athletes to benefit from NIL, while Ohio has not passed such a policy.
As currently constructed, there are some limitations to what a high school student-athlete (and thus, a potential Penn State recruit) could benefit from. Some of the restrictions include not being able to promote a good or service during a team or school activity, not wearing a piece of clothing or the logo of an NIL partner during a team or school activity that is not a part of a standard uniform, and not promoting or endorsing any adult entertainment products, alcohol products, casinos, firearms, and more.
One of the biggest sticking points to be clarified is how old a student-athelete has to be in order to sign an NIL deal. Most student-athletes in high school are under the age of 18, which has led to some concern about how NIL deals will be conducted.
This is still a little bit away from changing the game for high school athletes. On3 notes any changes to the PIAA policy would not be expected to go into effect until at least July 2023. By then, the entire landscape of NIL at the high school level could change massively and the policy in Pennsylvania will surely be refined over the course of time.
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