Cliff Lohrey came up with a perfect name, image and likeness to describe the high school Name, Image and Likeness bylaw that was ratified on Wednesday by the Florida Board of Education:
“It’s like the world’s largest octopus, man,” the DeSoto County High football coach said. “There are more tentacles out there than you can count or keep track of.”
While saying additional protections are needed, the Board ratified a plan approved last month by the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) that will allow high school athletes to get paid through name, image and likeness, or “NIL,” deals.
Board Chairman Ben Gibson said the athletic association, which regulates high school sports, must prioritize the protection of student-athletes, most of whom will be minors.
“This could be a great opportunity for some student-athletes, but we want to make sure they do it in a manner that they are protected and not exploited,” Gibson said.
Charlotte High athletic director Tom Massolio accepts NIL in principle, but is gravely concerned about how smoothly it — and its enforcement — will be implemented.
Since it is summer, Massolio said he has not heard from many parents or coaches … yet. But he anticipates the questions will be coming in, hot and heavy with the start of fall practice next week.
“I guess the main question I get is how do the deals work,” Massolio said. “Name, Image and Likeness has nothing to do with Charlotte High School and that is something that needs to be brought to everybody’s attention. I know our county has taken a firm stance on that, also.”
NIL, as outlined by the FHSAA, means student-athletes can promote certain goods and services in exchange for compensation, but the related school’s identity, apparel, facilities and other resources cannot appear in any such promotion.
Also, it’s incumbent upon the student-athlete’s family to pursue such deals without input from or contact with the school and to do so with the assistance of a qualified agent.
High schools will not be able to use promises of NIL deals to recruit players, but school officials across the state are dubious about the FHSAA’s ability to shut down all the potential loopholes.
Durant High football coach Claybo Varnum crystalized the concern in a comment to the Tampa Bay Times on Wednesday afternoon:
“Lakeland High School might not give you money, but Lakeland Toyota down the road might,” Varnum said.
State Education Commissioner Manny Diaz said the bylaw changes were “not taken lightly” and warned against companies trying to use NIL deals that “circumvent the process and take advantage of our students.”
Board member Esther Byrd suggested the association require students to register when participating in NIL deals.
“I am very concerned about the bad actors,” Byrd said. “Obviously, they have already popped up. We know it is coming. We know they don’t care about our rules, and they are going to do what they want to do.”
Specifically threatening — and banned — are collectives, the mechanism that has led to such big-money deals at the collegiate level. The FHSAA expressly forbids the formation of collectives, but that hasn’t stopped some “bad actors” from attempting to circumvent the league.
Last month, an entity calling itself NILClub.com sought to collect money and redistribute it to student-athletes who signed up with their organization. It was a clear violation of the FHSAA bylaws on two fronts: as a collective and as a group attempting to launch NIL compensation before the Board of Education formally ratified the bylaw.
“You just don’t know what we’re going to be dealing with,” Massolio said of the NILClubs fiasco. “I’m sure that’s not going to be the only case, either. I would say some people didn’t even know they were doing (something illegal). They were thinking they were helping a cause and had no clue what they did.
“The only thing I can really say is that kids and their families have to be very careful they don’t put themselves out there and become ineligible,” Massolio added. “So, study up.”
To that end, Massolio said he plans to have an NIL question-and-answer session connected with the school’s annual NCAA Clearinghouse tutorial. In addition to priming Charlotte student-athletes for collegiate academic and athletic requirements, the aim will be to keep Tarpons from stepping on an NIL land mine and losing eligibility.
“There are going to be questions from a lot of parents,” Massolio said. “And hopefully, I’ll have a lot more answers for them.”
In the end, the likelihood of NIL becoming a pervasive thing on the Florida prep sports scene is not as significant as one might think. Georgia’s NIL bylaws have been in place for some time and provided the framework for Florida’s bylaws. So far, only 44 of 429,714 student-athetes (.0001%) had signed deals, according to data gathered by Connect Savannah reporter Travis Jaudon.
But what if NIL does catch on in Florida? That’s why DeSoto County High’s situation is so interesting. There are two schools of thought when it comes to the impact of NIL on small-town schools — either they are decimated by outgoing transfers seeing greener pastures, or the community rallies around the school and keeps its student-athletes flush with NIL compensation.
“One-hundred percent,” Lohrey said. “I think that’s a very fair statement. It could end up tremendously negative for us, but it could also end up being tremendously positive.”
Craig Damon, executive director of the FHSAA, said bylaws continue to be updated, noting that issues involving what are known as “collectives” were amended this week in reaction to another national group found recruiting and collecting money in multiple states including Florida.
Damon said that for most students, an NIL deal would be equal to having an afterschool job, while at the college level “you see student-athletes getting compensated for their name being on a roster.”
“We don’t foresee kids making hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars off this,” Damon said. “However, there will be that 1 percent of elite athletes that possibly may have that opportunity. But for the majority of our student-athletes, it will be something local with a local business.”
The association plans to post online videos to share information with parents and students about how NIL deals operate, Damon said.
That’s good news, considering several of Florida’s top prep football players have already taken to X, formerly known as Twitter, to announce their agent signings, such as American Heritage quarterback Dia Bell.
While it appears Bell is following proper procedures, it’s only a matter of time before someone runs afoul — knowingly or not — of the FHSAA. Lohrey figures it will result in a brutal lesson.
“This is brand-new to everybody, including the people who have approved it,” Lohrey said. “That’s one of those tentacles that are out there. They’re not really sure how they’re going to deal with it when it happens.
“It’s a shame that someone is going to have to be the first one to go through that,” he added. “Some player, some program is going to have to be the first one in order for others to learn from it and that’s a shame.”
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