Believe it or not, NIL is coming (has come?) to a high school near you.

I hope you had a saucer at hand as you spit your milk or juice or early morning cocktail out of your mouth reading those words. But it’s true.

From the Tallahassee Democrat via the Florida Times-Union:

Florida high school sports could be heading toward a future with Name, Image and Likeness (NIL).
During Friday morning’s Florida state legislature session, the House Education subcommittee heard presentations on the potential of high school athletes getting NIL opportunities from executives of the Florida High School Athletic Association and the Sunshine State Athletic Association, an independent preps sports conference that serves as an alternative to the FHSAA.

Paywall for both (sorry.)

Charlie Ward, former Florida State University football star, offered up this word salad: “I think there’s a place for it and there can be a place for it, but it can’t be something just rolled out and now you’re going to have all the unintended consequences,” Ward said. “I think there’s some things that you can eat off with the rollout initially and you want to make it to where it matches up with the transfer piece.”

NIL and the transfer portal has made such a hash of collegiate sports that Florida is thinking, “Hmmm, maybe that’s something we need for our prep athletes.” Know that high school athletes are already allowed to transfer schools at will as long as their parents figure out how they will get to their chosen sports mecca.

But it’s not only Florida. Take a gander at this list and see how your state is handling the issue.

NIL for high school. What could go wrong? Besides exploitation of minors, I mean.

Years ago, I was pitched an investment in a partnership known as Silver Screen. $5,000 a share; the pooled money would be used to finance 20 Hollywood films. Statistics were cited to show that of the 20, 15 would be money losers, a couple would break even, a couple would earn modest profits, and the last one would be the blockbuster that would earn enough money to pay for them all and make the investment worthwhile.

Why wouldn’t sports businesses, multi-billion, worldwide empires, follow the same strategy? Buy up a kazillion athletes at a few hundred bucks, knowing that one or two of them will wind up breakout stars in their college/pro years and pay for the rest.

Then again, minor children (under 18) cannot sign legally binding contracts. Gotta get to those parents, then.

What have we come to in the ongoing devolution of education? It is a commodity to be sold, child by child. I wonder why this is only for athletes. What about the theater student? The new generation of celebrities is being born before our eyes. Get in on the ground floor; sponsor that upcoming Oscar, Emmy, Golden Globe winner.

What about the science students? NIL for the Science Fair! After all, there could be a Nobel Prize winner in our midst and who wouldn’t want to have exclusive rights to their NIL?

But hey, guardrails are in place, for example, Pennsylvania. “Pennsylvania became the 22nd state to allow student-athletes to participate in NIL activities without losing high school eligibility in December 2022. The change allows student-athletes to obtain commercial endorsements and earn money from promotional activities. However, no one affiliated with the high school or employed by the school may arrange for NIL deals or pay players. Student-athletes can’t reference the PIAA or any member school, team or team nickname in NIL ads, mirroring other states associations that have made changes in 2022.”

Nothing in our history (cough, cough) of NCAA scandals suggests that anyone would not abide by the regs and would do anything wrong.

Of course not. Oh wait, there’s that sarcasm that people are always warning me about.