Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
The adoption of NIL upended the college sports landscape, but it also quietly opened the door for high school athletes to begin cashing in.
Driving the news: Nike recently signed its first high school NIL deal, inking Harvard-Westlake (Los Angeles) soccer players and sisters, Alyssa and Gisele Thompson, to a multiyear agreement.
State of play: High school guidelines are determined by each state's athletic association, and similar to college, athlete endorsements can't be affiliated with their school.
What they're saying: Many high schoolers are "brilliant entrepreneurs at a young age … and the NIL opportunities are good ways for them to make a business out of something they do really well," Karissa Niehoff, CEO of the National Federation of State High School Associations, tells Axios.
Between the lines: A similar opportunity for elite high school athletes to earn money arrived last fall when Overtime Elite (OTE) launched and offered basketball stars six-figure salaries. But while those teenagers forfeited their NCAA eligibility, high schoolers signing NIL deals do not.
The big picture: The vast majority of high school athletes won't land NIL deals, which are reserved mostly for the elite of the elite — teenage phenoms with national profiles and massive social media followings.
The big question: Is it healthy for athletes to focus on marketing at such a young age? It's a fair question. That said, 9-year-olds are making millions on YouTube. Why should athletes be shut out from that world?
