RALEIGH, N.C. — In a meeting on Thursday morning, The North Carolina Board of Education agreed to advance a proposal over name, image and likeness (NIL) rules for high school student-athletes to a public comment period.
The public can provide its insight from Oct. 1 through Dec. 6, including a virtual public hearing on November 8.
If adopted, high school public athletes in the state will be able to profit off of NIL by July 1, 2025.
Under the new NIL rules, student-athletes will be able to do the following things in exchange for compensation:
- Public appearances or commercials
- Autograph signings
- Athletic camps and clinics
- Sale of NFTs
- Product or service endorsements
- Promotional activities, including in-person events and social media advertisements.
The following are prohibited activities under the new proposed rules:
- Referencing a school, PSU, conference or administering organization.
- Receiving compensation for the use of intellectual property of a school, PSU, conference, administering organization or the NFHS.
- Appearing in the uniform of the student's school or school sports team.
- Endorsing or promoting the goods or services of a third party during athletic competition or other school activities.
- Displaying the mark, logo, brand or other identifying insignia of a third party unless part of a standard uniform for the school or sport.
Athletes will be unable to endorse the following:
- Adult establishments or entertainment services
- Alcohol or alcoholic products
- Tobacco, vaping or nicotine products
- Cannabis or related products
- Controlled substances
- Opioids or prescription pharmaceuticals
- Weapons, firearms or ammunition
- Casinos or gambling, including sports betting
- Activities that would disrupt the operations of the school or PSU.
In order for a student-athlete to receive compensation, they must:
- Provide a copy of the NIL agreement to their head coach, athletic director, principal, local superintendent and chairperson of the local board.
- Complete the NIL course through NFHS.
In terms of NIL contractual provisions:
- The deal cannot condition compensation on quality of athletic performance.
- Parent or legal guardian must be a party to the agreement if the student is under 18.
- Must release PSU, administering organization, DPI and SBE from liability.
- Must otherwise comply with state and federal law.
Rules for school employees and administrators:
- School athletic directors are required to file copies of NIL agreements with the administering organization.
- The administering organization must provide a summary report of all NIL agreements to the BOE annually.
- Athletic directors, coaches or other PSU employees, as well as booster clubs and NIL collectives cannot promise an NIL deal in exchange for athletic participation or transfer to a school. They also can't act as an agent.
This comes after Grimsley star Faizon Brandon - the No. 1 ranked quarterback in the Class of 2026 - sued the NC State Board of Education in August over its ban on endorsement deals for student-athletes at public high schools.
At the time, family attorney Mike Ingersoll said, "The State Board of Education was asked to create rules allowing public high school athletes to use their NIL—it was not empowered to ban it. We look forward to correcting the State Board's error and to help Faizon benefit from the incredible value and opportunities his hard work and commitment have created for his name, image and likeness."
It's important to note that if the high school star was in a private school, this wouldn't be an issue. That's because the NIL law only impacts public school athletes.
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