Florida approves HS Nil

[Mr. Stratford]

Yes, for playing sports. Yes

Couple of issues. They aren't being paid for the playing of the sport. They are being paid for their NIL, similar to a model being paid for their image.

What rationale is the government going to have to prevent it under a substantive due process or equal protection argument?

 

[flacat22]

I work in a high school in Florida where a high-level basketball player plays for us. In speaking with our AD about him the other day he relayed that should this kid sign with a shoe company (he's in discussions) that company would outfit all of the other sports, athletes, and coaches for the duration that he is on campus and signed with the company. The trickle-down effect of one kid's deal would be huge for our little school and the other sports on campus. I am sure this isn't an isolated deal with this kid so we should consider the other benefits of NIL applying to high schools.

 

[bbncal02]

Clearly you don't go to many high school games.

Sure they have incentive to do more than just basketball. Don't you need a high school diploma to play in college or make it to the NBA? There's also incentive to earn deals. Most businesses aren't going to be eager to represent poor behavior.

Not really. I work for my employer everyday without a contract. I did the same thing when I was a minor.

The hours restriction is only during the school week. Generally, weekends, summer, holidays and so forth, students can work normal hours. There are usually restrictions that they can't work past a certain hour. But, lol, are you thinking they would need that many hours to film a commercial, make an appearance or sign some autographs?

Why would high school football be deemed a hazardous occupation? They aren't employed by the school and the school isn’t paying them. So it’s an extracurricular activity, not an occupation.

It's not that difficult at all, unless you just want to pretend it is. You do realize Reed had several HS NIL deals, right? Were you as concerned then?

You missed were college athletes are going to be considered employees eh? Guess what will happen? It will filter down to the next level.

You've seen what a mess this is at the collegiate level where there's only ONE major governing body. Now you're talking about moving this concept to 50 or more governing bodies if it moves outside of Florida.

 

[Mr. Stratford]

You missed were college athletes are going to be considered employees eh? Guess what will happen? It will filter down to the next level.

You've seen what a mess this is at the collegiate level where there's only ONE major governing body. Now you're talking about moving this concept to 50 or more governing bodies if it moves outside of Florida.

Doubtful. You generally have to have a high school diploma or equivalence to work in a public school.

As far as what you had mentioned earlier regarding suing for injury. Courts have long held that high school sports, and usually sports in general, falls under the assumption of the risk defense. So the school generally isn't liable aside from some negligence on their part that would exceed that defense.

It will be no different than the countless other things regulated at the state level.

 

[JumperJack]

The high school with the most money can now openly pay to recruit players. Put their face on a calendar for an “NIL” deal.

There’s a reason this stuff wasn’t allowed to begin with.

 

[Mr. Stratford]

The high school with the most money can now openly pay to recruit players. Put their face on a calendar for an “NIL” deal.

There’s a reason this stuff wasn’t allowed to begin with.

That's been going on for decades. Particularly private schools. Hell, Toyota has been buying players for Scott Co schools since the 90s.

 

[JumperJack]

That's been going on for decades. Particularly private schools. Hell, Toyota has been buying players for Scott Co schools since the 90s.

Yep. As I said, it can now be open.

 

[Zissou87]

So a teenager can work in a restaurant or cut grass to make some money but is not fair to make some money if he /she is good at sports?

From the information I have gathered from the board, it's also disgusting.

 

[travisbickle]

Honestly, I fully support this.

It’s gotten tougher and tougher over the last few decades for adults to profit off of child labor. Glad to see the pendulum swinging back the other way.

 

[travisbickle]

I work in a high school in Florida where a high-level basketball player plays for us. In speaking with our AD about him the other day he relayed that should this kid sign with a shoe company (he's in discussions) that company would outfit all of the other sports, athletes, and coaches for the duration that he is on campus and signed with the company. The trickle-down effect of one kid's deal would be huge for our little school and the other sports on campus. I am sure this isn't an isolated deal with this kid so we should consider the other benefits of NIL applying to high schools.

Love this post. It’s easy to demonize this on its face because, frankly, it does sound crazy.

But there are unintended consequences that can be positives as well. Thanks for sharing that one.

It was surprising to me how many stories I saw of college athletes giving NIL to charity. My cynical mind couldn’t conceive of that.

I think like most innovations/paradigm shifts we experience, there is great potential for good or for bad. I hope better minds prevail. I’m optimistic they usually do over time.

 

[d2atTech]

My issue here is that in sports you actually need socialism if you want competitive balance. Like the NFL & NHL have a salary cap. That's socialistic. But the reason it exists is so you don't have the big market teams buying up all the talent, which would kill parity and make people check out on th lower ranked squads. Baseball has this issue but some of it is mitigated a little by the luxury tax. Still, look at the success of the Dodgers/Yankees versus the Reds over the last 20 years.

In a wild, wild, west, capitalistic, free market setup you'd get LOTS of lopsidedness in sports and we're about to see a lot of that play out in the college game and elsewhere without any regulation.

But again, NIL is supposed to be different from a salary. It was sold as "Hey, get money for your name on a jersey, your face on a t-shirt, your likeness in a commercial, money for doing an autograph signing." However, it's become a license to pay players to circumvent universities collegiately so long as they'll sign somewhere. It's been abused since day 1 and I don't see the NCAA or state bodies doing anything to stop it, largely because of court challenges or a lack of will.

fair point in the socialism in sports, but even that ought to be a free market. This NIL item is more about earning money outside the sport. if i work a job outside of school to earn money, why should anyone prevent me from doing this? I understand this is nary because they are "students" and pseudo employees at the same time. Maybe the best thing to do is to just divest sports into true AAA sports leagues with the school's label.

 

[d2atTech]

I didn't. Between class, band, choir, tech and what little social life I had, I didn't have time.

seems like a full slate. i opted for the no social life aspect in hs. somehow in the same boat post kids. lol.