If the Indiana High School Athletic Association board of directors votes through the proposal on Name, Image and Likeness – called Personal Branding Activity by the IHSAA – there are high-profile high school athletes who would appear to be poised to take advantage of the new rule.
Monshun Sales, the rare five-star football recruit from Indiana, is one. The Lawrence North wide receiver, a junior who is considering Indiana, Alabama, Texas and Ohio State among his top schools, will certainly be paid handsomely through the NIL collective at the college he chooses to attend.
But the 6-5, 205-pound Sales believes Indiana should join the 46 other states that allow high school athletes to make money off their NIL. Under the IHSAA’s proposal, athletes could be paid for NIL as long they are not depicting any affiliation with a member school – or using school facilities or property – in association with receiving PBA compensation.
“I haven’t said anything about NIL because that’s not the type of person I am,” Sales said. “If it happens, it happens. I just want to play football at the end of the day. If it happens, I’m excited. But if it doesn’t, it’s still the same.”
Sales, who caught 37 passes for 794 yards and nine touchdowns as a junior for Lawrence North, said it is only fair that athletes from Indiana are allowed the same opportunities as those from almost every other state.
“I think it should happen,” he said. “The only way it wouldn’t be fair is if we were the only state with it. But right now, we’re one of the only states without it so it’s kind of unfair, if anything. Kids like me have opportunities to go do things and we are kind of being held back because of the (rule). If it happens, it happens but I think it should.”
The 19-member IHSAA board of directors, made up of school administrators from across the state, will vote Monday on the proposal. The vote on the Personal Branding Activity would allow the following:
Non-School, Non-Athletic PBA Activities: Students may engage in PBA activities provided they do not represent the Member School and do not perform athletic services.
Personal Brand Development: Students may develop and monetize their personal brand through social media, personal appearances, and endorsements unrelated to their school athletic participation.
Skills-Based Services: Students may provide non-athletic services such as tutoring, personal training instruction, or coaching youth sports for reasonable compensation.
The following PBA activities are prohibited by the proposal and would result in ineligibility:
School Representation: Any PBA activity that represents or references a Member School, unless directly connected to the student’s participation in the school’s interscholastic athletic program and directed by the school.
Prohibited Activities: The student must not participate in any PBA related to products, services, individuals, companies, or industries that promote gaming or gambling, alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, illegal or banned substances (including performance-enhancing substances), sexually explicit material, or firearms or weapons.
Athletic Services: PBA activities that involve utilizing athletic skills or participation in interschool athletic contests or demonstrations that are organized, sponsored by, or affiliated with a Member School. A student may provide the following activities if not associated with Member School representation:
>>>Instructional Services: Individual or group instruction, lessons, clinics, or camps.
>>>Appearances and Demonstrations: Participation in events, exhibitions, or promotional activities that may involve athletic skill, provided such participation is not tied to Member Schools or Member School competitions, or outcomes.
>>>Private Training and Coaching: Providing training or coaching services to individuals or teams not affiliated with the Member School.
PBA Collective Participation: Participation in or acceptance of benefits from PBA collectives that work on behalf of, in conjunction with, affiliated with, or for the benefit of any Member School.
Recruitment-Related Activities: PBA activities offered to entice a student to attend a particular high school for athletic purposes.
IHSAA commissioner Paul Neidig said the support for the proposal at the eight administrators’ meetings around the state was about 50%. At the meeting at Plainfield on Friday, 24 of the 51 votes were in favor.
“It fits within our amateur rule we currently have,” Neidig said. “You own your own name. I think people understand that. (The proposal) is very similar to what a lot of states do.”
While the NIL and shot clock proposals have gained a lot of attention, there are several other proposals that the board will be voting on Monday. A glance at the proposals of interest:
>>>Tennis proposal: The Indiana High School Tennis Coaches Association has a proposal to classify tennis as a team sport for the purpose of turning tennis into a class sport while also keeping its status as an individual sport.
“It really comes down to classifying individual sports and whether that is good or not,” Neidig said. “If you are in favor of it, it’s a great thing. If this would pass, it would further the conversation with the rest of our individual sports.”
Neidig said the administrators have been about 70% against the proposal.
>>>Cooperative agreements: This proposal would allow a cooperative agreement between two member schools in a sport provided there is a need, which could be insufficient enrollment numbers or absence of a program at one or both of the schools. This rule would only apply to team sports and can only involve a school that has fewer than 300 students. The agreement would be for a two-year period and must be formed with a neighboring school.
“I could see it really being beneficial for some schools that are struggling to offer football,” Neidig said. “A student may be able to stay in their home school with their friends but still be able to play football. This would give students an opportunity.”
Neidig said Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota are among the many Midwest states that have offered co-op programs for years. The benefit could also be a two-school district that might not be able to offer a sport with just one school but could with two. The enrollment for classification purposes would be the two schools’ combined enrollment. A school could not enter a cooperative for one sport with one school and one for another.
The vote at Plainfield was heavily in favor of the cooperative proposal.
>>>Volleyball: The Indiana High School Volleyball Coaches Association has proposed to allow four players from the same school to play on the same non-school team. The number is currently three. The vote was split evenly at Plainfield.
>>>Off-season conditioning: The board approved pitching for softball and baseball as part of the out-of-season conditioning program several years ago. There is a proposal to allow individualized game skills to the conditioning program in the offseason, including shooting a basketball, hitting a volleyball, throwing and kicking a football, kicking a soccer ball, etc.
“Individualized skill development,” Neidig said. “Those individualized activities would be part of conditioning, just like throwing a baseball.”
There were 42 in favor and nine opposed at Friday’s meeting.
>>>Change to first-time transfer: There is a proposed change to the first-time transfer rule to note that when a student’s parent or legal guardian has commenced employment in a licensed or certified position at the receiving school, that student would have full eligibility. That proposal received full support in the straw poll at Plainfield.
>>>Out-of-state transfers: Under the “bona fide” change of residence, a student can gain full eligibility at a school within a 20-mile radius of their new address if the change of residence involves a move of more than 75 miles. There is a proposal to add “or from another state” to that rule. This change would likely have a bigger impact in the areas that border another state. This would also apply to the senior transfer rule, which notes a bona fide change of address as more than 50 miles. There were 33 in favor and 11 opposed at the Plainfield meeting.
>>>Past link: This proposal would specify that past link would only apply to a coach, manager, trainer, volunteer or employee who has worked directly with an athlete during the 12 months prior to the athlete’s enrollment at the receiving school. Simply being part of a travel program where the athlete plays is not a past link violation. The change would also add “owner or operator” to the past link designation. The straw poll was 34 to 17 in favor at Plainfield.
>>>Minimum season participation: There is a proposal to add language to the minimum season participation for tournament eligibility rule. The proposal would add team sports to the rule and lower the minimum number of from 75% to 50% of contests (this does not include players who are injured or coming up from junior varsity, etc.). This proposal is two-pronged. The change would allow smaller schools to come up with a plan for athletes who are participating in two sports in the same season.
It would also help to curtail situations where an athlete transfers during the season (essentially after half of the contests are completed) and would still have eligibility at the new school after the 30-day sit-out period required for an in-season transfer.
This proposal had 49 of the 52 votes in favor at the Plainfield straw poll.
Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649. Get IndyStar’s high school coverage sent directly to your inbox with the High School Sports newsletter. And be sure to subscribe to our new IndyStarTV: Preps YouTube channel.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: ‘I think it should happen.’ On NIL proposal for high school athletes, other proposals
Reporting by Kyle Neddenriep, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
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