"DOUBLE EDGED SWORD": Florida high school athletes can now earn NIL deals

High school athletes in Florida will now be able to make money from name, image and likeness (NIL) deals after the state’s Board of Education approved changes to its “amateurism” bylaws.

The board unanimously voted in favor of the change on July 24. Now, all high school athletes are able to earn money from name, image and likeness agreements like commercial endorsements, promotional activities, social media presence, product, or service advertisements.

The new avenue of income for talented young athletes comes with rules and regulations that if broken could end a player’s high school career. Athletes are forbidden from using their school’s insignia, name, mascot and uniform during endorsements, and cannot endorse products or entities during athletic events.

Athletes are not a allowed to ink NIL deals with:

• Adult entertainment products and services
• Alcohol, tobacco, vaping, and nicotine products
• Cannabis products
• Controlled substances
• Prescription pharmaceuticals
• Gambling — including sports betting, the lottery, and betting in connection with video games, online games, and mobile devices
• Weapons, firearms, and ammunition
• Political or social activism
• NIL collectives

Additionally, high schools are not allowed to use promises of NIL deals to recruit players.
Ryan McGee, the Football Director for the Charlotte Warriors Pop Warner organization said giving high school athletes NIL deals could bring unnecessary consequences to the players.

Alex Orenczuk.

“It's a double edged sword,” said McGee. “You’ve got the good side of helping out the athletes with the money, and the bad side of what rules can they break to lose everything.”

McGee said in addition to having to follow new rules, it's unreasonable to expect a high school aged player to act responsibly if they are presented with a large sum of money from an NIL deal.

“It's hard to ask a younger kid to abide by those,” said McGee. “I personally think that these kids need to take a class, a financial class, to qualify them for these funds and these rules.”

Matt Washington, the Owner of CoolHandz Academy , which trains young athletes in several sports said following the rules of NIL deals will be difficult for high school athletes, especially without the resources offered to their college counterparts.

Alex Orenczuk.

“It will be harder for the high schoolers to navigate those rules,” said Washington. “I don’t think they will be as mature as a college player. They don’t have the knowledge or the maturity level to understand what is right and wrong, and the position of power and the blessing that they’ve been given.”

Washington told FOX 4 that although some athletes might break the NIL rules and face the consequences, the new opportunity could mean athletes take their sport more seriously.

“The guys who are focused and locked in on their actual goals will rise to the top and I think it will overall be a positive.”