After years of debate, the NCAA Board of Directors approved a policy that allows Division 1, Division 2, and Division 3 athletes to make money off of their name, image, and likeness, or NIL. This meant that college athletes could receive money for things like endorsement deals, promotional appearances, and social media. 

This decision that was made 2 years ago has already made a huge impact on college athletics. Many are still pushing against the NIL policy, saying that NIL deals have ruined team dynamics and college sports in general. And now, people are pushing for NIL policies to come to high school athletes, too.

Some states have already passed laws allowing high school athletes to monetize their NIL. In states that haven’t, the NCAA says that athletes can monetize their NIL, but there is a risk that they could violate their high school rules and potentially make themselves ineligible to play sports. 

High school athletes should be able to make money off of their name, image, and likeness, but there needs to be a limit. Yes, many high school athletes have worked hard and deserve to earn money off of their success, but these are also high school kids. They are still in their formative years, and they should focus on building themselves and their peers up, not managing their social media accounts and juggling agents. 

People may argue that high school athletes are only a few years younger than collegiate athletes, so they should be able to deal with everything just as well. But something that they may forget is that there is a huge difference in maturity and experience, as high schoolers have much less experience in the “real world” and could easily get taken advantage of. High schoolers deserve to be able to make at least some money off of their NIL, but it should be very limited because dealing with the pressure of making so much money and managing it (even with assistance) can take up a high school athlete’s life.

Another thing to consider is the fact that NIL deals and players making money could mess up team dynamics. Social media, sponsorships, and agents could consume a player’s life and make them obsessed with their personal status and popularity. Players with deals could become selfish and start to focus only on themselves, not building up and creating bonds with their teammates.

 Also, players with deals will probably make more than anyone else involved in their team, including coaches. This could mess up how these players see and treat others who may have higher authority than them, but they will feel like they’re better and worth more because of the money that they make.

The high school athletes that will be making money are the ones that are best at their sport, which means that they are probably the captain or one of the leaders of their team. 

Having the people who are supposed to bring everyone together distracted by their money and agents will instead break a team apart because there is no one there to encourage them. 

With high school NIL deals, the teammate that has to lead everyone to the same goal can become absorbed with their personal lives and block everyone else from that goal. NIL deals can cause teams to lose leaders and weaken bonds between teammates. I think that to keep teams together but also not tear people apart, NIL policies should be expanded to high school but stay extremely limited.