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Florida Becomes Latest State to Allow High School NIL

Florida High School Athletic Association votes to allow high school athletes to engage in NIL deals starting in the 2024-25 school year

Noah Henderson

Apr 5, 2019; Middle Village, NY, USA; Montverde Academy Eagles guard Cade Cunningham (1) drives the ball to the basket against the IMG Academy Ascenders during the fourth quarter at Christ the King High School. Mandatory Credit: Catalina Fragoso-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 5, 2019; Middle Village, NY, USA; Montverde Academy Eagles guard Cade Cunningham (1) drives the ball to the basket against the IMG Academy Ascenders during the fourth quarter at Christ the King High School. Mandatory Credit: Catalina Fragoso-USA TODAY Sports / Catalina Fragoso-USA TODAY Sports

Today, the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSSA) voted to enshrine the right of high schoolers to take part in NIL engagements. This makes Florida the thirty-third jurisdiction to allow NIL involvement at the prep-level. The new regulations will allow athletes to cash in on sponsorship deals and have safeguards to prevent NIL Collective recruiting that has become prevalent in collegiate athletics. Under the new policy, "groups, organizations, or cooperative enterprises that exist to collect funds from donors and help facilitate NIL deals for student-athletes, and/or create ways for athletes to monetize from their NIL." The new NIL amendments will go into effect for the 2024-2025 academic year.

Florida has a history of producing incredible athletic talent across a wide range of sports. Allowing elite prep athletes the ability to cash in on their influence via NIL was the only sure-fire way to ensure that home-grown talent did not flee the state to pursue lucrative sponsorship opportunities elsewhere.

The Sunshine State is home to many of the country’s most prolific high school athletic programs such as IMG Academy, Montverde Academy, and St. Thomas Aquinas. These schools consistently send athletes to the highest levels of collegiate sports and eventually to the professional ranks -- a sizable part of their athletic rosters hail from outside of the state. The prior regressive NIL policy of the FHSSA made these programs much less desirable to elite talent both homegrown and those who wished to relocate to Florida boarding schools like IMG. For the most talented prep athletes abstaining from prep NIL could leave tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars on the table.

Florida has once again become one of, if not the most, desirable states to be a high school athlete. It is likely that other states will follow in Florida’s footsteps. With the majority of high school athletic associations already allowing NIL at the high school level, it appears that if any state wishes to retain its elite collegiate prospects, especially in football and basketball, NIL is imperative. 

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Noah Henderson
NOAH HENDERSON

Professor Noah Henderson teaches in the sport management department at Loyola University Chicago. Outside the classroom, he advises companies, schools, and collectives on Name, Image, and Likeness best practices. His academic research focuses on the intersection of law, economics, and social consequences regarding college athletics, NIL, and sports gambling. Before teaching, Prof. Henderson was part of a team that amended Illinois NIL legislation and managed NIL collectives at the nation’s most prominent athletic institutions while working for industry leader Student Athlete NIL. He holds a Juris Doctor from the University of Illinois College of Law in Urbana-Champaign and a Bachelor of Economics from Saint Joseph’s University, where he was a four-year letter winner on the golf team. Prof. Henderson is a native of San Diego, California, and a former golf CIF state champion with Torrey Pines High School. Outside of athletics, he enjoys playing guitar, hanging out with dogs, and eating California burritos. You can follow him on Twitter: @NoahImgLikeness. 

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