NIL for High School Football in Pennsylvania?

Tagged under: News

Pat Weider | May 6, 2022

NIL (name, image, and likeness) is a hot-button issue on college campuses across the country. NIL allows students to make money off their sports playing careers and not jeopardize their amateur status. We have seen many college athletes make money off their playing careers by advertising for local and national companies. The next step is how NIL affects high school athletes. Some states have enacted NIL laws for High School Athletics, but no one in this region has passed NIL laws yet, including Pennsylvania. The PIAA is taking a patient approach when it comes to instituting NIL for high school athletics in the state. Bob Lombardi, Executive Director of the PIAA, had this to say on the topic. “The board is going to have some discussions in July. Wait and see attitude and see what is happening in New Jersey, New York, and Ohio”. 

Enacting high school laws for NIL is a real difficult proposition because of the dynamics involved with paying high school athletics while they are maintaining an amateur status. Garry Cathell, Executive Director of PSFCA, has already had many discussions at the national level and had this to say on the topic. “College athletes were not getting compensated fairly. The difference is high school players are not making tons of money for their high school programs.”  For high school athletes to get paid and still keep the integrity of high school sports is the difficult part. It is this balancing act that the PIAA is trying to figure out and navigate through. 

In talking with several high school football coaches, they all had numerous questions and concerns about how NIL would work in the state. Hempfield head football coach George Eager had 2 simple questions “What would the detailed specifics on NIL for HS look like? How would it be regulated?”. Both are very important questions the PIAA must consider with NIL. Drew Moore, Brashear’s head football coach, sees the benefits of NIL “I think NIL can be a wonderful thing for student athletes because I’m coach in a place where families have nothing”. Coach Moore’s point is excellent because it could be away for athletes to help support there families. Coach Ed Gallagher of Souderton just hopes that the system is not “trickled down from college and that we create a full proof system in the state”. Coaches just hope that if NIL is allowed in the state that it is regulated well. 

The other concern about NIL could be recruiting. Coach Victor Ridenour of Lampeter Strasburg brought up recruiting concerns “ I’m not sure we will see much of an impact at our level except in recruiting. With athletes entering the transfer portal looking for more lucrative offers, that could pose some issues with seniors looking for a place to play”. That is a similar point Garry Cathell made about recruiting in the state where there is already a hot button issue in the state between private schools and public schools. Adding NIL could lead to players transferring between public and private schools depending on the deals they can get. In the end most coaches don’t think NIL will have a big impact on the system. Moore said the following “I don’t think High School athletics will run differently or at least they shouldn’t run differently”.

The next step in the process is gaining information from coaches, players and administrators in the state. PIAA is also closely watching neighboring states to see what happens to their NIL proposals. Garry Cathell said “We have a close eye on Ohio Coaches Association”. Lombardi of PIAA “We are trying to gather information and do fact finding on NIL impact on High School Athletics”.

NIL is here to stay in college athletics, though as of late it looks like changes to the system are being investigated. One FBS college coach, who wished to remain anonymous, said “right now we are kind of in the experimental phase it seems. I’d like to see some changes but we’ll have to wait to see how that shakes out.” And so, the next step is to see how high schools handle NIL. Stay tuned, we’ll report any developments. 

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