How GHSA’s NIL policy arrived at perfect time

NIL deals took college athletics by storm when they were introduced in July 2021 after almost every state had passed laws permitting college athletes to profit from NIL, forcing the NCAA to modify its amateurism rules to comply with the states’. Since then, over half of states in the country have begun allowing high school athletes to profit from NIL, with GHSA introducing their own policies.

“It’s important to understand these individuals don’t have the intellectual rights of their school district or the association, meaning, logos, marks, facilities, footage, that sort of thing,” GHSA executive director Robin Hines said.

This guideline is where the college and high school level differ slightly. While college athletes generally are prohibited from using school logos in NIL deals, there are some hoops they can jump through with their school’s permission to gain access to these logos and marks, according to Pete Nakos, an NIL reporter for ON3.

High school associations, including the GHSA, are much more strict with this rule, with little to no wiggle room to use any semblance of an athlete’s high school in NIL deals.

Hines also said performance-based NIL deals were off the table, ensuring high school students’ amateur status remains intact.

High school players now will be able to acclimate themselves with the NIL environment before they even commit to any college. In women’s college basketball, NIL has soared in the past year following record viewership numbers, with Iowa star Caitlin Clark and LSU standouts Angel Reese and Flau’jae Johnson, all in the top 50 of ON3′s NIL evaluation rankings.

Nakos said these high school NIL deals are not expected to be nearly as prevalent as in college because of the added restrictions, but for the top athletes in the nation, brands will begin forming relationships early, taking chances on the potential fame to come.

Kell High School girls basketball coach Kandra Bailey said she does not foresee this policy making big waves as high school sports do not garner the same recognition as college athletics, adding a level of difficulty for athletes to establish their brand before college without the use of their school.

However, Watkins, now a freshman at USC, and Jada Williams, now at Arizona, became trailblazers as two of the first women high school basketball players to sign NIL deals. Alicia Komaki, Watkins’ coach at Sierra Canyon, credits Watkins’ work ethic to her rise in popularity, but also her willingness to build her brand through social media.

“You know, you have to make a name for yourself and keep a name for yourself, whether that starts for you in high school, or it goes to college,” Komaki said.

Social media is what drives many NIL deals, as brands take advantage of the increased engagement, and in women’s basketball, the engagement is growing fast. According to SponsorUnited, women receive seven times more engagement per NIL deal than men, and brands are capitalizing on these numbers. Nike signed Watkins in high school, taking advantage of her almost 300,000 followers on Instagram.

Watkins was the No. 1 recruit in ESPN’s 2023 rankings, and Williams was 21st. However, Williams drew more deals than Watkins through her social media presence, Komaki said. Williams boasts around 400,000 more followers on Instagram than Watkins, a noticeable difference for brands looking to partner up.

“I mean, you name it, she had all those deals,” Komaki said regarding Williams. “As a high school senior, I don’t know what she finished at ... but something like $400,000 a year. That’s for a girl who by the way, she ended up being a McDonald’s All-American. But you know, she was top 20 in her class. She wasn’t No. 1. She wasn’t No. 5.”

Williams’ current NIL valuation is $440,000 before she has even played in a college game according to ON3.

In Alpharetta, Saint Francis coach Aisha Kennedy was ahead of the game, as two years ago she began designating time in the offseason to help her girls build their brand on social media to prepare them for potential college opportunities.

Now with legalization, this preparation could pay off sooner than expected.

“When you’re on social media, being intentional about your brand, being able to market yourself, whatever your brand may be, just because that’s such a huge tool, and you’re following,” Kennedy said. “So that’s something we started talking about two years ago. And then for it to just take off last year was kind of like, whoa.”

However, with more opportunities, come concerns.

Kennedy is concerned about potential saturation of talent in states with top-tier programs excluding smaller programs. However, Hines said NIL collectives are banned at the high school level, a key factor that should curb attempts to lure talent to different schools. Collectives are common at the college level, with members donating funds to a pool that are allocated to athletes in athletic programs.

With the ever-changing world of NIL, it will take time to see how these concerns pan out, but for now, GHSA is confident in giving its athletes these rights while ensuring their eligibility remains.

Hines said GHSA researched the possibility of bringing high school NIL to Georgia for two years. With the prevalence of state associations passing policies growing by the month, he made sure to jump on this opportunity.

“We wanted to get in front of it and make sure that we did it right before there was some legislation or lawsuits or those things that would force us to do something that we didn’t feel like was appropriate,” Hines said.

Jordan Howard writes for the University of Georgia’s Carmical Sports Media Institute, which prepares students for careers in all fields related to sports and media.