NEENAH (NBC 26) — Last week, the WIAA approved Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) for student athletes in Wisconsin.
NBC 26 caught up with a couple of local coaches and FVA co-commissioner Jim Strick to figure out how it impacts their teams and student athletes.
“It’s a really good thing for kids that will not have the opportunity to benefit from this,” Strick said. “It’s something that’s a little bit scary heading into it for sure.”
Wisconsin is among the last states to make this change as more than 40 states already allow NIL benefits for high school student athletes. FVA Co-Commissioner Jim Strick says it's a new opportunity for standout athletes.
“Maybe being a coach at a camp, maybe giving lessons to a kid,” he said. “Now they can get paid for that. In the past they never could. Another one would be with all the social media now-a-days that a company could give a student an opportunity to make some money to talk about their business on social media accounts so they could get some media that way.”
While student-athletes can make money off of their NIL, there are some restrictions.
An interesting catch? They can't appear to be affiliated with their school. This means no wearing school jerseys, logos or branding of any kind in any ads.
“Then the other big part is that boosters who have any connection to the school whatsoever, whether they’re an alum, a parent, a coach, a prospective coach, any one that’s given to a school within an athlete's time there – they’re not allowed to give any compensation towards an athlete,” Strick said.
NBC 26 also, spoke with Neenah football coach Steve Jung. He says he's in favor of the new rules and he likes that, unlike the NCAA, transfer rules still apply.
“This is just putting it where it should be,” said Jung. “It’s a way that the kids can do this, but it’s not going to affect high school sports like it has collegiate sports.”
But the big question is, will this truly have an impact on the average high school athlete?
“I really don’t and if there is, It’s probably less than like a .5 percent (of athletes) or something like that,” said Neenah boys basketball coach Lee Rabas.
Jung and Rabas, both say they will now make sure to educate their athletes on how to navigate NIL.
“Anybody that’s anticipating trying to get an NIL deal, whatever that’s going to look like in high school, don’t do it unless you run it through your athletic director,” Rabas said.
The FVA will be holding their first classfor student athletes, their parents and coaches within the conference this Sunday at Pickard Auditorium at Neenah Middle School.
