Alabama lawmakers push for high school athletes to profit off NIL
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WAFF) - Three simple words have been embraced at the collegiate level over the past four years: Name, image and likeness, or NIL.
Since NCAA approval in 2021, collegiate athletes have been profiting off their name, image and likeness.
An Alabama representative is pushing a bill to bring that privilege to Alabama high schoolers.
“How do we move the state forward and get out of this ideology of ‘this is how things used to be’. Change is a good thing,” Representative Jeremy Gray from Opelika said.
One local coach says the state should tread lightly.
“I think we need to have the right model because we don’t want it to blow up and get it back under control, which is, I think, what happened with the NCAA,” Jared Smith, head baseball coach at Bob Jones High School, said.
“Name, image and likeness - it’s all pay for play and everyone is entering the portal, so I think if that’s how it would be in high school, I wouldn’t be a fan of that.”
Smith is the head coach of the reigning state champion Bob Jones baseball team.
He’s coached players who would have profited from NIL deals like current Mississippi State freshman and 2024 Mr. Baseball Braden Boothe.
He said if Alabama doesn’t move fast, the state could strike out on the best players.
“I think we somewhat have to imitate what the surrounding states are doing,” Smith said. “Eventually we’ll lose players to states nearby who have it.”
Only nine states in the country don’t allow high schoolers to profit from NIL deals; Alabama is one of them.
“I don’t want Georgia schools coming and trying to get my best player because they can come and get paid a million dollars from some card company,” Smith said.
It almost happened in Birmingham when a Thompson High School 10th grader was offered seven figures from a trading card company to play elsewhere.
He turned down that deal.
“I think we have to keep the best athletes in the state,” Smith said.
“Our guys have zero chance from January to May to have any outside job,” Smith said. “I’ve had kids many times who have picked ‘man, I’ve got to get a job, I’d rather go have money than work 40 hours a week.”
Coach Smith says giving players the chance to earn money for their hard work, under the right rules, would be a home run for state athletics.
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