The Georgia High School Association’s “dead period” of mandatory inactivity is over for this summer, but unless Peach State Prep athletes want it to be permanent, they should take the GHSA’s warning seriously.
The GHSA recently sent a letter to each of its member schools with a clear message regarding the eligibility of their student-athletes: Do not join the club.
Name, image and likeness collaborations (referred to in the letter as “NIL Clubs”) have become an important source of revenue for many prominent college athletes and represent an effective recruiting tool.
The NIL Club is a company that provides its website subscribers with exclusive content from its athletes. It claims to have more than 200,000 registered college athletes who have earned over $10 million since 2021, the year the NCAA lifted its ban on endorsement deals. The athletes are compensated by the NIL Club from funds raised through subscriptions.
The NIL Club recently opened its services to high school athletes, and nearly 100 Georgia high school athletes have signed up in the first few days, according to Robin Hines, executive director of the GHSA, in an interview with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Hines, who will retire in August and be succeeded by Tim Scott, the former superintendent of Dalton Public Schools, said in the letter that the GHSA “has been made aware that many students at member schools have been contacted by the founders of the ‘NIL Clubs’ and invited to join the ‘Club’ which is tailored specifically to their school and team activities.”
“The GHSA considers participation in such NIL clubs to be a potential violation of the GHSA NIL policies… and joining such a NIL club could have serious consequences for their eligibility to participate in or continue to participate in GHSA activities, as well as the ability of member schools to participate in GHSA-sponsored postseason events.”
The GHSA approved NIL contracts with certain conditions in October, but Hines said the problem with NIL clubs is that it is considered a violation of the association’s policies for a subscriber, who could be considered a supporter or employee of a college, to pay to view a GHSA athlete’s footage.
Athletes have no control over who pays to read their materials.
On its website, the NIL Club explains: “By subscribing to the club for a monthly fee, fans gain exclusive access to content during their membership while supporting the participating students as creators.”
Several coaches in northwest Georgia contacted by the Times Free Press about the letter said the NIL club should not be a major cause for concern locally.
“We’ve talked to the kids about it and we don’t have a problem with it,” said Calhoun’s Clay Stephenson, who is entering his sixth season as head coach of the region’s most successful GHSA football program. “It seems like people are trying to take advantage of the kids and that could hurt them and their teams. I’m sure there are other parts of the state that will be affected by this, but not here.”
Ringgold coach Austin Crisp agreed: “I’m pretty sure at least 95% of the teams in Georgia don’t have to worry about that. We’ve told our kids that if someone contacts them, don’t do anything until they talk to us. Just be smart.”
Crisp believes that the GHSA and other high school governing bodies should never have allowed NIL deals in the first place.
“I think that’s a big mistake,” he said. “We don’t sell player jerseys here. To me, football has always been the purest sport. There have always been away baseball and basketball games, but you can’t replicate a Friday night on the high school field.”
“In my opinion, introducing NIL makes it less pure.”
Contact Lindsey Young at [email protected].
