Oregon prep athletes can now cash in on their sports fame
OSAA has ok’d NIL rules for Oregon teen competitors
High School athletes in Oregon can now make some money off of their exploits in sports. The OSAA delegate assembly has ok’d rules allowing for the so-called NIL or “name, image and likeness” payments being enjoyed by college athletes. Oregon is now one of more than a dozen states with NIL regulations for prep athletes, including Idaho and California. Other states are looking to follow Oregon in approving NIL guidelines. The Oregon rules were first approved by the OSAA Executive Board in September, which passed along its recommendations to the assembly.
The Oregon NIL high school rules bar prep athletes from referring to their school or the OSAA in their promotions, nor can they use school district facilities, videos or practices. In addition, certain materials or products—such as marijuana, alcohol and adult entertainment—are off limits from prep athlete promotion.
While there are a long list of potential abuses of these money making allowances that can be imagined, at least one coach in Salem-Keizer says the jury is still out on NILs in his mind. Sprague football coach Jay Minyard says nobody really knows how it will work for teens.
“I really don’t know enough about it to have an opinion yet,” admits Minyard.
“It seems like it’s happened pretty fast. Not sure we’ve even gotten to find out what the positives and negatives were for doing it at the college level yet.”
“I really need more insight before I form my opinion.”
Indeed, little has been written about the NILs for colleges, aside from the schools setting up organizations to help their athletes market themselves—sort of an enticement for them to come to campus. The biggest concerns are how NILs are rapidly changing the college sports landscape. But the whole process is still under development.
OSAA Executive Director Peter Weber told the delegate assembly before their vote Monday that NILs seem all but inevitable nationwide.
“What… we’re trying certainly trying to do with this proposal is in some ways to get ahead of it.”
“We know this is coming. We’ve seen it at the collegiate level. From a state association standpoint, we believe that it makes sense to provide some parameters around this.”
California has already seen several of their highest profile athletes sign with Beaverton-based Nike. That includes senior basketball standout Bronny James, the eldest son of LeBron James. A recruiting website estimated that Bronny’s NIL value is the highest of any high school athlete, approaching $7 ½ million.