Just when Michigan sports fans thought the NIL chaos could not get worse, the MHSAA put their hands together like an evil supervillain and said, “Try us.”
Yesterday, the Michigan High School Athletic Association officially approved what they call “Personal Branding Activities” (NIL) among our state’s student-athletes. In its press release, the group noted how they have previously allowed “PBA opportunities,” citing their allowance of student-athletes to partake in or run clinics and camps for younger athletes.
“We have said from the start of this conversation that the MHSAA could be comfortable with a policy that provides individual branding opportunities for individual student-athletes, and this rule change provides those while excluding the possibility of collectives, and boosters and school people getting involved in those activities,” MHSAA Executive Director Mark Uyl said. “This is the essence of what NIL was supposed to allow in the first place, and we’re confident we’ve crafted language that allows true NIL opportunities without affecting competitive equity among our member schools.”
The new policy includes allowing activities such as modeling, advertising, merchandise, sports cards or apparel sales, and the use of a student’s name, image, or likeness in marketing materials.
It’s one thing if a local family friend wants to have a fathead made of you for their restaurant to support the town football team, but the insinuation that high school students should be allowed to profit off of “modeling” in relation to athletics is absurd.
Michiganders should not expect it to stop there either.
The MHSAA specifically stated that it will not disrupt “competitive equity that would result from the creations of group activities including collectives and other pay-for-play opportunities now the norm at the collegiate level.”
Funny enough, that’s what the NCAA said four years ago, and now you have players like Bryce Underwood at Michigan signed to long-term contracts like they’re in the NFL.
When the world has reached the consensus that the entire NIL system is completely out of control at the collegiate level, the MHSAA chooses that time to say let’s join the fun? If you thought high school athletics were already too political, you might as well consider pulling your kids now, because this is only the beginning.
Alex Deimel is a contributing writer for Michigan Enjoyer.
