Front Porch Conversations: What’s the deal with the NIL situation for high school athletes?

Front porch conversations: “I have children in high school. They play sports. What is this new thing where they can get endorsements while they play sports? How do we get them endorsed? Should they transfer to a larger school across the county to get endorsed?”

Welcome to our front porch!

The West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission (WVSSAC) recently drafted a policy that will go into effect during the 2025-2026 school year. This policy allows high school students (as well as middle school students) to monetize on their name, image and likeness (NIL). But, there are big no-no’s when it comes to making this NIL money – as well as big no-no’s with enticing a student to switch schools. 

According to the WVSSAC policy, 

“No school or anyone employed by a member school, including coaches and administrators, may be involved with a student athlete’s use of their NIL. No one associated with or acting at the direction of a member school, such as booster clubs, alumni, or collectives, may use the promise of NIL opportunities to entice student athletes to transfer to or attend their school.” 

(Policy also states that students in grades 9-12 are allowed a one time transfer without losing eligibility to play.) 

Also, students are not able to participate in NIL activities that include: 

• Adult entertainment products or services
• Alcohol products
• Tobacco or nicotine related products
• Cannabis products
• Controlled dangerous substances
• Prescription pharmaceuticals
• Casinos, gambling, sports betting, the lottery, or online betting
• Weapons, firearms and ammunition. 

Student athletes are also not allowed to use a WVSSAC member school or the WVSSAC while participating in NIL activity, they may not endorse third parties while participating in team activities, and they may not wear a NIL partner logo during team activities. 

At this policy’s core, it means that a student athlete may only use their NIL deals to leverage their personal brand. No team mascots allowed. 

To gain an endorsement, or NIL deal, a student athlete could create an engaging social media account (or several) that attracts the attention of local or national businesses. Those businesses could then decide to enter into an agreement with the student athlete, (through you, the guardian, if the athlete is under age 18), to post advertising content. If the student athlete already has a large social media presence, or local name recognition, you could reach out to businesses yourself to inquire about NIL contracts. But, this is uncharted territory in the Mountain State. 

The decision to enter into endorsement contracts or any NIL opportunity would be between you, your children and the business. There is legal stuff involved here that we simply cannot advise on. However, we do believe that it is extremely important to discuss this with your children. Do they really want to be a part of all this, or do they just want to play ball? 

We also can’t tell you if you should transfer schools. That is a major decision that should be made by you and your family. Just remember, no one should be promising you or your child anything to transfer schools. 

###

Do you have a question or a topic of conversation? Reach out to us at https://therealwv.com/front-porch-conversations/. Discussions take place over on our Facebook page @TheRealWV.