Tennessee high school athletes learned how fast their TSSAA eligibility can be jeopardized through Name, Image and Likeness ventures when they recently signed up for the NIL Club app.
NIL Club is a digital platform that was made available to high schoolers a little more than two weeks ago in states like Tennessee where high school athletes can profit off NIL. Athletes can earn money through the app by producing paywalled content for monthly subscribers.
But the app’s initial structure included a one-step process that pushed athletes to the brink of breaking the TSSAA's amateur rule .
The athletes involved did not violate TSSAA rules or lose eligibility because they didn’t receive financial payment, TSSAA executive director Mark Reeves said. Developers of the NIL Club app have since made changes in an effort to align with TSSAA rules and reduce risk to athletes.
“Whether it’s the NIL club or the next 26 apps that pop up, we’ve got to educate (schools and athletes) on what our amateur rules allow you to do,” Reeves said.
Initially, the NIL Club app grouped athletes who signed up into NIL “clubs” labeled by their respective school’s name and sport. That created confusion about whether athletes or schools were creating school-sanctioned NIL initiatives. That would be against the TSSAA’s amateur rule, which prohibits athletes from receiving payment “if it suggest(s) or reasonably suggest(s) the endorsement or sponsorship of the TSSAA school.”
RELATED: TSSAA approves NIL for Tennessee high school athletes, bringing plenty of unanswered questions | Kreager
Many athletes also uploaded profile photos of themselves wearing their school athletic uniforms, which, on an NIL-specific app, violates the amateur rule. TSSAA athletes can’t be compensated for activities that include “an image or likeness of the student in a uniform, clothing or gear depicting the name or logo of the TSSAA school.”
YOKE, the software developer that started NIL Club, has since removed all high school names from the app, removed images of high school athletes wearing school uniforms and disabled their ability to have profile photos.
NIL Club launched in 2020 to serve college athletes, using a structure that aligned with NCAA NIL rules, which differ from those of the TSSAA and other state high school athletic associations.
YOKE CEO Mick Assaf said the company’s legal counsel reviewed all state high school athletic associations’ NIL bylaws before the launch and didn’t foresee athletes having eligibility issues with the platform. He added that the company reached out directly to “at least one” state association as part of its research.
“You always can do more. I’ll take full accountability. We should have done more,” said Assaf, a former Notre Dame football player. “We should have reached out to the state associations and done more due diligence.”
What is NIL Club app? How platform changed to align with TSSAA rules
Athletes earn money through the NIL Club app by creating “clubs” together and providing paywalled digital content — such as photos and videos — for the app’s monthly subscribers. Subscribers pay to access the platform, then can donate to various student-run clubs. Athletes in the clubs split their monthly earnings equally after YOKE takes 15% as a platform fee.
The app is available on an invite-only basis and is not publicly listed on app stores. NIL Club created a wait list for high school athletes before its recent launch, based on the demand it saw in that market. The number of high school accounts grew faster than expected, Assaf said, by word of mouth, and digital invites that account holders can send through text message or to other social media platforms.
MORE: Coaches confidential: What TSSAA football coaches think about NIL after 1 season of rule
Schools in Tennessee quickly noticed the threat of potential TSSAA violations. Green Hill athletic director EJ Wood saw that the platform was using schools’ names when he viewed a screenshot of an NIL Club app text message invite, which had been sent to a former student manager from a number that wasn’t in their contact list.
The New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, in an email informing its schools about the platform, said one of the NIL Club app text message invites included the pre-prompted phrase “if you’re planning on being on the (respective sport) team next year, it’s important to get signed up (for the app) ASAP.” Assaf said that phrase was likely included in some invites early in the launch, but that it was removed “fairly quickly.” In some cases, athletes’ invites trigger pre-prompted text messages, but the NIL Club app does not send unsolicited spam, Assaf said.
Florida high school athletes were able to create NIL Club accounts prior to the Florida State Board of Education’s ratification of the Florida High School Athletic Association’s NIL bylaw, which is set for July 24. The Florida accounts were restricted from taking payments, Assaf said, but their existence created confusion among schools. The accounts were deactivated last week after FHSAA executive director Craig Damon and Assaf spoke.
MORE: NIL in Florida: What is NIL Club, and why have its Florida high school pages gone dark?
Assaf has been communicating with state high school associations to align the platform with their bylaws . He wants to make it “impossible” for users to run into compliance issues while using the app, though initially, he said, “we probably weren’t cautious enough or as aware of the standard of the high school space.”
The NIL Club app’s text and social media invites now use a more generic pre-prompted message, which no longer includes school names.
The platform also uses a digital tool that can monitor for school uniform names, logos and insignia, and send them for human review if any are detected. Humans review all content before it is published, Assaf said, looking for things like school names and logos.
How TSSAA, Tennessee high school athletic administrators are reacting
Unlike the Georgia High School Association and New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, Reeves said the TSSAA does not plan to issue any directives or warnings to member schools about the NIL Club app because “we don’t want to restrict a company’s opportunity to try to make profit.”
Reeves said other apps that athletes use to monetize their content — like Instagram or Cameo — also have features that could trigger violations, and ultimately, it’s up to schools and athletes to understand the TSSAA’s amateur rule.
Reeves said the TSSAA educates member schools on the amateur rule through email communication, conversations at regional meetings and information on its website .
MORE: 50 questions about the 2024 Tennessee high school football season in the Nashville area
Siegel athletic director Greg Wyant, who was on the Legislative Council when the TSSAA amended its amateur rule to allow for NIL payments two years ago, said he asked his school’s athletes last week to stop using the NIL Club app for now.
“I’ve got nothing against what (NIL Club is) trying to do. I just think they didn’t do enough research (before allowing high school athletes to use it),” Wyant said.
Wood asked Green Hill’s coaches to remind athletes about the TSSAA amateur rule.
“The limited guidance we’ve gotten from the (TSSAA about NIL Club app) is all we've passed on (to coaches and athletes),” Wood said. “I think there’s a lot of unknown even from the (TSSAA) itself. They’re always readily available to take phone calls and what not. We just haven’t gotten a ton of guidance (from them).
“I would say, when you open Pandora’s box (by allowing NIL payments) this is the fallout we’re getting.”
Reach sports writer Tyler Palmateer at tpalmateer@tennessean.com and on the X platform, formerly Twitter, @tpalmateer83.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: How an NIL app compromised Tennessee high school athletes’ TSSAA eligibility
Most Popular
Comments / 0