Representatives from the N.C. High School Athletic Association are scheduled to make a presentation to the State Board of Education on Wednesday regarding name, image, and likeness in high school sports.
According to the Department of Public Instruction, the NCHSAA will share with the board what it found after two years of studying the NIL issue in high school sports. The goal is to provide the board with information before it votes on a permanent NIL rule at its September board meeting.
In June, the State Board of Education voted to bar high school athletes at all public schools in North Carolina from profiting off their name, image, and likeness.
NCHSAA Commissioner Que Tucker said at the time that the NCHSAA had not been invited to participate in any discussions about NIL with the State Board of Education.
“We were neither contacted nor given an opportunity to voice an opinion or to suggest ways to allow students to use their name, image and likeness, which they own,” Tucker said in June. “This is not ‘pay to play’ — rather it is about trying to ensure our students can use what they own, in a ‘business’ manner, that does not jeopardize their high school athletic eligibility.”
Tucker is one of the representatives from the NCHSAA scheduled to present to the State Board of Education, according to the board’s agenda. Joining her will be NCHSAA Board of Directors President and Randolph County Schools Superintendent Dr. Stephen Gainey, C.B. Aycock High School Principal and NCHSAA Board of Directors member Tod Morgan, and N.C. State Board of Education General Counsel Allison Schafer.
In June, Tucker said she was aware of “several NCHSAA ‘elite’ athletes who have been approached about business opportunities to use their name, image, and likeness.”
HighSchoolOT has reached out to the NCHSAA for comment about Wednesday’s presentation to the State Board of Education.
The current policy prevents student-athletes at public schools from profiting off public appearances or commercials, autograph signings, athletic camps and clinics, sale of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), product or service endorsements, and promotional activities.
North Carolina is in the minority when it comes to high school NIL policies. More than 30 other states have already adopted NIL policies for high school athletes, including Georgia, Tennessee, and Virginia.
Previously, the NCHSAA has said the average NIL deal for high school athletes in other sports was between $60 and $120.
In January, the Georgia High School Association announced that 44 of its 429,714 student-athletes had signed NIL deals, representing 0.001%, according to Sports Illustrated.
The NCHSAA adopted a NIL policy in May 2023, opening the door for student-athletes at NCHSAA-member schools to participate in NIL activities. However, the state legislature passed a bill that removed the ability for the NCHSAA to govern NIL and assigned it to the State Board of Education, which has adopted a policy banning NIL activities for public school student-athletes.
The policy originally adopted by the NCHSAA would have provided a number of restrictions on the types of NIL activities student-athletes could be involved in, would have required reporting and education for athletes, their parents, and coaches, and would have restricted schools from providing NIL opportunities for athletes or creating NIL collectives.
Restrictions placed on public school student-athletes in North Carolina do not apply to private school student-athletes, unless they attend a private school that is a member of the NCHSAA.
Earlier this year, the N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association voted to allow athletes at its nearly 100 member schools to profit off their name, image, and likeness. The NCISAA governs high school athletics for many private schools in the state. The policy adopted by the NCISAA was nearly identical to the policy originally adopted by the NCHSAA.
WRAL’s Emily Walkenhorst and Brian Murphy contributed to this report.
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