High school athletes in North Carolina can profit off NIL beginning July 1
On Wednesday, North Carolina became the 28th state association in the country to pass a policy allowing high school athletes to profit off their name, image, and likeness.
The N.C. High School Athletic Association Board of Directors voted to approve a name, image, and likeness policy for the more than 180,000 student-athletes at NCHSAA member schools. This includes traditional public schools, dozens of charter schools, and four non-boarding parochial schools.
Athletes at NCHSAA member schools can begin profiting off their name, image, and likeness on July 1.
However, before athletes can strike a deal with a company, they must go through an education course about NIL, put together by the National Federation of State High School Associations. Parents, coaches, athletic directors, and principals will also be required to go through the NFHS course.
Under the new policy, student-athletes would be allowed to monetize their name, image, and likeness through appearances, athlete-owned brands, autographs, camps and clinics, group licensing, in-kind deals, instruction, non-fungible tokens, product endorsements, promotional activities, and social media.
Schools and coaches would not be allowed to facilitate NIL deals, however. They are not allowed to use NIL to recruiting athletes or encourage enrollment, and school employees and coaches cannot act as a student's agent or marketing representative.
There are limits on the type of products student-athletes can be involved in too. The NCHSAA will prohibit student-athletes from entering into NIL deals with products around adult entertainment, alcohol, cannabis, controlled substances, firearms and ammunition, gambling, prescription drugs, as well as tobacco, vaping, and other Nicotine-related products. Athletes cannot affiliate themselves with a specific school, conference, school district, the NCHSAA, or the NFHS through a NIL deal.
The NCHSAA will require student-athletes to report all NIL deals to their school. The school will be required to keep a record of those NIL deals with the NCHSAA.
Of the 27 state associations to have approved NIL for high school athletes, Tennessee is the only one that borders North Carolina. However, the executive committee of the Virginia High School League voted 31-0 in January to advance a proposal allowing NIL for high school athletes and is scheduled to hold a final vote on the proposal on Wednesday.
NIL became legal for college athletes in July 2021 after the NCAA changed its amateurism rules. At the time, the NFHS said it would not change anything for high school athletes, but less than two years later, more than half of the state associations have opted to allow high school athletes to profit off their name, image, and likeness.
