MILWAUKEE — An effort to allow high school athletes to profit off of their name, image, and likeness was denied Wednesday.
The decision came at a Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association meeting where 56 percent of athletic directors voted ‘no’ on the measure.
It’s a polarizing topic for parents of high school athletes. Let’s go ‘360’ to hear arguments on both sides of N.I.L.
An N.I.L. consultant shares the most difficult aspect, a coach tells us why he thinks it’s important to wait, but we start with two parents. One who calls it a problem and another who sees it as a missed opportunity.
Kidman and Kash Knueppel are hoping to follow in their older brother Kon’s footsteps. The Wisconsin Lutheran standout is off to Duke University on a basketball scholarship. He’s also expected to make six figures in N.I.L. deals while at Duke.
“What is that going to mean for your son?” TMJ4’s Ben Jordan asked.
"Well, I think it is a reward for many, many hours put in the gym to make himself a successful player who will help bring success to a college,” Kon’s mother Chari Nordgaard Knueppel replied.
While Kon’s hard work will start paying off in college, Chari is disappointed that after WIAA’s vote, her youngest four sons won’t get the same opportunity in high school.
"I just thought it could potentially benefit so many players in this state,” she said. “Especially for athletes who are training every single day and find it hard to help their families potentially financially because they have no time to work a traditional job."
Anthony Jacobs is a Milwaukee father who has a much different perspective.
His oldest son competed at the college level and his youngest is currently on the field for Riverside High School.
"I think some of the universities are making a lot of money off of these kids winning games, making it to championships and winning championships,” he said.
While Anthony supports N.I.L. in college, he doesn’t think it belongs in high school.
"The high school, ugh, that money thing. Kids lose focus,” he said. “I’m no longer playing for the love of the game and to support my team. I'm playing for me now."
Wisconsin is one of just 17 states that does not allow high school students to make money off endorsements according to the Business of College Sports.
“How has it worked in those other states, perhaps in neighboring Iowa of Illinois?” Jordan asked.
"It's very different,” replied N.I.L. educator Scott Grant. “People don't often understand the high school realm. There is no national governing body for high school athletics."
Grant makes a living as an N.I.L. consultant. He spoke at a Wisconsin Athletic Directors Association conference last fall to provide insight into this new world.
"I always tell people, there are going to be the two percent that are the elite student-athletes that are division 1 recruits,” he said. “It may be part of the conversation earlier. But a lot of the student athletes, you'll see have figured out a way to engage a social media following. A lot of them are entrepreneurial in nature."
Data out of Georgia’s high school athletic association shows their N.I.L. program is off to a slow start with a minimal impact. Within the first four months, just 44 athletes out of more than 429,000 signed N.I.L. deals.
Back in Wisconsin, the WIAA suggested several restrictions to remove its complete prohibition.
Athletes wouldn’t have been able to wear their team uniforms while appearing in endorsements. Promoting things like gambling, alcohol, or tobacco would have been banned.
One of the primary restrictions would have been paying a player to recruit them to a particular school.
"As far as policing it, that's always a question,” Grant said.
Grant says schools in Wisconsin won’t have to worry about enforcing that now, which he calls the most difficult aspect of high school N.I.L.
“It's hard to prove so there always is that question about who's going to push this in the wrong direction."
Back on the baseball diamond, Menomonee Falls Head Coach Tim Gotzler says his biggest fear with N.I.L. would have been the potential for under-the-table deals to persuade athletes to transfer.
"If it's happening or not, sometimes perception is reality in this world is you think there's always backroom deals even if there's not and I just think that the pressure that would put on players, families, administrators, coaches, local businesses,” he said.
Gotzler is glad the state is holding off. He wants to see those issues ironed out elsewhere before it’s implemented here.
"Sometimes being late to the party is a good thing,” he said. “You can kind of watch other states deal with the effects. I mean, it's so new that I know others are already out in front of it, but there might be something said about waiting another few years, another five years and maybe see another generation or two of kids come through and see how it really does affect. Once the toothpaste is out of the bottle, you're not going back."
The WIAA made it clear that one of the main reasons it put this up for a vote was because passing N.I.L. would deter lawsuits arguing that athletes have every right to monetize their name, image, and likeness.
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