NC high school athletes could get NIL, as well as a major change to basketball playoffs
High school athletes in North Carolina public schools could begin to profit off their Name, Image and Likeness as soon as this summer.
During Tuesday’s N.C. High School Athletic Association Board Meeting, the NCHSAA Policy Committee recommended that the NCHSAA Board of Directors approve a proposal to make North Carolina the 28th state to allow NIL among its high school athletes. The Board is expected to vote on the proposal Wednesday.
The NCHSAA policy committee recommended that NCHSAA staff form an NIL committee in December. That committee included principals, county athletic directors and school ADs throughout the state.
Under the new policy, if approved, athletes would be required to complete the National Federation NIL course annually, along with their parents/custodians, coaches, athletic directors and principals.
Students would then be allowed to publicize their name, image and likeness for things like appearances, autographs, camps and clinics, group licensing deals, social media and product endorsements.
School personnel, including coaches, could not use NIL for recruitment or enrollment, nor act as a student-athletes’ agent or marketing rep. Athletes would also be prohibited from using their NIL in certain fields or companies, like those involving cannabis, alcohol, gambling or adult entertainment.
Students would also be required to disclose NIL agreements with their school and athletic director and the AD must submit those to the NCHSAA electronically.
Other highlights from Tuesday’s meeting
▪ The board will vote on a “Final Four” format for boys and girls basketball playoffs.
If approved Wednesday, the NCHSAA would hold all state semifinal and championship games at one location during a six-day period in March. The semifinal games would be played Monday through Thursday with state finals on Friday and Saturday.
It’s a similar format the NCHSAA used to use for regional championship week in Greensboro and Greenville.
▪ NCHSAA commissioner Que Tucker addressed a bill in the NC legislature that could strip the association of broad powers.
“The challenges lie before us,” she said. “We don’t always know the direction (the lawmakers are) going to go or which direction we will go. But I always remember the words of (former N.C. State women’s basketball coach) Kay Yow when I worked with her. She always said, ‘We can’t change the direction of the wind. All we can do is adjust our sails.’ I feel that’s what we have to do, not only over the next two days but as we look ahead to where we find ourselves by the time the General Assembly leaves town.”
Tucker said the NCHSAA has operated in agreement with its “Memoradum of Understanding” with the State Board of Education, which the new bill could change. The NCHSAA is nearing one year under its current agreement that was forged with lawmakers last year.
Tucker said Senate Bill 636 hopes to address some items lawmakers didn’t get into the first memorandum, including one that would place the State Board in charge of all of the NCHSAA eligibility rules.
“Currently we are under a Memorandum of Understanding that we signed March 14, 2022,” Tucker said, “and until somebody tells us something different, that’s how we’ll do business.”
▪ There were five requests from student-athletes identifying as transgender since the winter meeting in December. Four have been approved to play sports. N.C. lawmakers are considering a bill that would only allow NC high school athletes to play sports based on their biological sex.
▪ Beginning in the fall, the NCHSAA will have 436 teams, and the board approved the addition of Wake Prep, a tuition-free charter school in Wake Forest near Raleigh.
▪ The NCHSAA recommended that Hobgood Charter move from Four Rivers conference to the Atlantic 5. The motion passed 18-0.
▪ Tucker said more than 300 schools voted in favor of moving from four to seven classes. She said 38 schools did not vote.
Tucker said several decisions now need to be made, including the makeup of the board, which is currently representative of four classes. A member vote would be necessary to change the makeup of the board, which would likely see it grow.
The board will consider whether to form a special task force to deal with questions surrounding the additional three classes, such as how to place teams into playoffs for sports that don’t include full participation by all NCHSAA schools. That could be voted on during Wednesday’s session.
▪ The NCHSAA Board will vote Wednesday on whether to form an ad-hoc committee to discuss adding a shot clock for basketball games.
Issues are around $3,000-$4,000 cost per school plus personnel, though the clock may reduce the length of games, according to documents shared by the NCHSAA’s review and officiating committee. A proposed start date would be in the 2024-25 school year for non-conference games on an voluntary basis, so long as both schools agree, to moving to mandatory adoption for the 2026-27 school year.
This story was originally published May 2, 2023 at 9:46 AM.
