MSHSL Board approves NIL policy for MN HS students

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Edina, Minnetonka, Wayzata ... they can pay a lot ... oops sorry, offer a lot of NIL ... to attract players from poor areas!
 

Gophers_4life said:
Edina, Minnetonka, Wayzata ... they can pay a lot ... oops sorry, offer a lot of NIL ... to attract players from poor areas!
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It will be interesting to hear what the actual policy is and why it came about. Is there a plan to change the existing transfer rules? There are already kids who transfer or open enroll to these and other schools for various athletic and academic programs, and I suppose that there will be the occasional athlete worth "buying" with NIL deals, but I don't know if there are that many people who care that much about high school sports to engage in widespread, high dollar roster building. At the schools I am familiar with there is more complaining about transfers taking away opportunities from the kids who grew up in the programs than there is enthusiasm for trying to build better rosters through transfers.
 


GopherRock said:
Here is the policy:

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NAME, IMAGE AND LIKENESS
A student may earn compensation from the use of their name, image and likeness (“NIL”) consistent
with current MSHSL regulations and provided:
• The compensation is not contingent on specific athletic performance or achievement (e.g.,
financial incentives based on points scored).
• The compensation (or prospective compensation) is not provided as an inducement to attend a
particular school (“recruiting”) or to remain enrolled at a particular school.
• The compensation is commensurate with market value.
• The compensation is not provided by the school or an agent of the school (e.g., booster club,
foundation, etc.).
• NIL activities must not interfere with a student-athlete’s academic obligations.
• A student must not miss athletic practice, competition, travel, or other team obligations in order
to participate in an NIL opportunity.
 




2nd Degree Gopher said:
It will be interesting to hear what the actual policy is and why it came about. Is there a plan to change the existing transfer rules? There are already kids who transfer or open enroll to these and other schools for various athletic and academic programs, and I suppose that there will be the occasional athlete worth "buying" with NIL deals, but I don't know if there are that many people who care that much about high school sports to engage in widespread, high dollar roster building. At the schools I am familiar with there is more complaining about transfers taking away opportunities from the kids who grew up in the programs than there is enthusiasm for trying to build better rosters through transfers.
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You highlight the key, critical thing: immediate eligibility transfers.

My head has been so wrapped up with how it has become such a s__t show at the NCAA level, that I forgot how integral the immediate eligibilty to play at the new (NIL paying) school is in the whole thing.


So yes, hopefully in the MSHSL, you have to sit out a year if you transfer after a certain deadline (9th grade?). And that should hold for almost any reason, save special circumstances that you can justify (like an abusive coach or teammate, a family separation with proof the athlete is living at the new location, etc.).
 

Wow. If you would've posted this on April 1st, I would've chuckled and said "good one." The fact this is real just blows me away. I assume it was put in place for recruits who have already committed to a college and will start drawing NIL payments while still in HS (thus the need to protect their eligibility), but isn't it only a matter of time before those affiliated with certain high schools start using NIL as a tool to recruit and win, despite the restrictions on that? I'm seriously blow away at how quickly this has all escalated.
 

MGGopher said:
Wow. If you would've posted this on April 1st, I would've chuckled and said "good one." The fact this is real just blows me away. I assume it was put in place for recruits who have already committed to a college and will start drawing NIL payments while still in HS (thus the need to protect their eligibility), but isn't it only a matter of time before those affiliated with certain high schools start using NIL as a tool to recruit and win, despite the restrictions on that? I'm seriously blow away at how quickly this has all escalated.
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I suspect that this is part of it. But the landscape now is that the Supreme Court has indicated that it isn't permissible to prohibit college students from engaging in these activities, so why wouldn't a challenge from a high school student yield the same result?
 



Gophers_4life said:
Edina, Minnetonka, Wayzata ... they can pay a lot ... oops sorry, offer a lot of NIL ... to attract players from poor areas!
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IMO.

The much larger impact is going to be NIL $ associated with college programs starting much younger. Additionally, some of the private schools will have some advantages.
 

Gophers_4life said:
hopefully in the MSHSL, you have to sit out a year if you transfer after a certain deadline (9th grade?). And that should hold for almost any reason, save special circumstances that you can justify (like an abusive coach or teammate, a family separation with proof the athlete is living at the new location, etc.).
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Many just simply move into the district for immediate eligibility, especially hockey. I don't think you can prevent that one if someone is willing to do that.
 

2nd Degree Gopher said:
It will be interesting to hear what the actual policy is and why it came about. Is there a plan to change the existing transfer rules? There are already kids who transfer or open enroll to these and other schools for various athletic and academic programs, and I suppose that there will be the occasional athlete worth "buying" with NIL deals, but I don't know if there are that many people who care that much about high school sports to engage in widespread, high dollar roster building. At the schools I am familiar with there is more complaining about transfers taking away opportunities from the kids who grew up in the programs than there is enthusiasm for trying to build better rosters through transfers.
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Bingo on the last sentence.
 

2nd Degree Gopher said:
Thanks for tracking this down. Looks pretty similar to the policy at the college level. No using it as a recruiting tool and no pay for play. We'll see if the MSHSL has any better luck keeping a lid on that than the NCAA.
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Somehow doubt the MSHSL is going to face the same challenges with NIL that we are seeing in college football and basketball. Just a guess on my part but I don't think we are going to be seeing big dollars thrown around in regards to local high school players especially while still in high school.
 

tjgopher said:
Many just simply move into the district for immediate eligibility, especially hockey. I don't think you can prevent that one if someone is willing to do that.
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If the family was experiencing no obvious hardship while living in the previous home .... I'd still like to disallow immediate eligibility at the new school. The kid can of course go to school there, can be on the team and practice with them, but has to sit out a year from competition ... or perhaps varsity competition. Play on the JV team.

I was thinking more like a hardship, like a family separation (kid goes to live with mom, in a new townhome in a new district, etc.).

But that would probably get too much pushback to be reasonable. At some point, people with enough means and pull are going to get what they want, so have to draw the line somewhere.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Somehow doubt the MSHSL is going to face the same challenges with NIL that we are seeing in college football and basketball. Just a guess on my part but I don't think we are going to be seeing big dollars thrown around in regards to local high school players especially while still in high school.
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What would you thoughts be on the following scenario that I just made up out of thin air?

- Jaxon Howard commits to the U of Miami
- John Ruiz then decides, for no reason, that he wants to sign Howard to a $50k NIL deal for his senior year at Cooper
- then when Howard gets to UMiami, he signs him to a new deal as a Hurricane worth $150k

These three things, of course, are completely unrelated.
 

Wow! 51 years too late! I could have gotten NIL money for being Benchwarmer Bob before there was a Benchwarmer Bob.
 

Gophers_4life said:
What would you thoughts be on the following scenario that I just made up out of thin air?

- Jaxon Howard commits to the U of Miami
- John Ruiz then decides, for no reason, that he wants to sign Howard to a $50k NIL deal for his senior year at Cooper
- then when Howard gets to UMiami, he signs him to a new deal as a Hurricane worth $150k

These three things, of course, are completely unrelated.
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Could absolutely happen but cases like that will be few and far between for the high school league to deal with. Good to spell out how it all works and make sure that the players who are in line to profit from NIL while still in high school can without screwing up their eligibility.
 

38 states have a similar policy in place now. Not having a policy in place could jeopardize one’s amateur status and the organization if challenged.
 

Gophers_4life said:
What would you thoughts be on the following scenario that I just made up out of thin air?

- Jaxon Howard commits to the U of Miami
- John Ruiz then decides, for no reason, that he wants to sign Howard to a $50k NIL deal for his senior year at Cooper
- then when Howard gets to UMiami, he signs him to a new deal as a Hurricane worth $150k

These three things, of course, are completely unrelated.
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Under the current structure, this is the way it is allowed to happen and would be completely within the letter, if not the spirit, of the rules. More troubling is if step one and step two are reversed.
 

2nd Degree Gopher said:
Under the current structure, this is the way it is allowed to happen and would be completely within the letter, if not the spirit, of the rules. More troubling is if step one and step two are reversed.
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Right. That would be painfully obvious ... and I would hope too obvious, hence why Ruiz would have enough brain cells to hold off on such an announcement until after the commitment. Or even better after signing the NLI (not NIL! ... tricky acronyms now)

But the implication of course is, behind closed doors it was part of the deal.

It's not what you know, it's what you can prove.
 

I wonder if there is room for anything to be amateur only anymore ...

It feels like this slowly but surely leads that way.
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
I wonder if there is room for anything to be amateur only anymore ...

It feels like this slowly but surely leads that way.
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I think there is room to remain amateur but still profit on things like NIL. When done the right way it is a great and long overdue thing for athletes. Kind of have to ignore the all too predictable bastardization of it taking place in college football and college basketball.
 

MNVCGUY said:
I think there is room to remain amateur but still profit on things like NIL. When done the right way it is a great and long overdue thing for athletes. Kind of have to ignore the all too predictable bastardization of it taking place in college football and college basketball.
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Speaking much more generally:

I wonder if it is really amateur if the whole ecosystem is dominated by a few folks getting paid.

Like maybe I play on a team... but make up / deciding factor on who is participating isn't bunch of amateurs rather it is if someone really good got paid or not ... is that amateur athletics?

At this point we've got NIL in high school. I don't believe for a second a MN high school kid is worth much NIL, so they're getting it they're paid to play for whatever team ... that's not amateur.

Could you have a situation where "we're all here just to play, no NIL no whatever".

I feel like we've traded legitimate "kids should get paid for being a part of this" for a lot of very obvious bullshit and hypocrisy that now extends to other places.
 
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MNVCGUY said:
I think there is room to remain amateur but still profit on things like NIL. When done the right way it is a great and long overdue thing for athletes. Kind of have to ignore the all too predictable bastardization of it taking place in college football and college basketball.
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Bolded is kinda the thing, in general, for all of the NCAA monetization.

Look at any sport, at any level, where there is no or very little money in it.

DIII volleyball. If some local sandwhich shop wants to give them $1000 for letting them put their face on a billboard .... why not?
 

I am going to talk to my local hockey association. I think the mini mites should be eligible to use their NIL to generate some income. The local Dairy Queen could use a team shot in its advertising and pay the kids each $5 plus a box of free dilly bars. Of course, there is nothing to prevent the rat bugger association just up the road from poaching our kids by arranging for THEIR Dairy Queen to offer $7 plus a week's supply of banana splits. If this happens, there is no way we are going to win next year's mini mite jamboree. We need a policy... fast.
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
I wonder if there is room for anything to be amateur only anymore ...

It feels like this slowly but surely leads that way.
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Well, according to the Supreme Court ruling it probably isn’t limitable

Could the NFL pass a rule blocking endorsements outside the salary cap? Not if it isn’t collectively bargained


Which is why the ncaa hasn’t even attempted to regulate it. Any regulation they impose eventually could be overturned in court


How an association could regulate it is via sitting out for transfers. Not a problem in high school yet.
But how to limit in high school?
1 year sit out of varsity even if there is a move
2 year sit out if no move

How to limit it in ncaa?
Sit out a year to transfer no matter the circumstance



The way to limit NIL causing roster upheaval isn’t limiting dollar amounts it is limiting movement of players via holdout periods for movement
 

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