BY EARL VAUGHAN JR. | CityView Sports Columnist
The N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association confirmed earlier reports Friday afternoon, sending a press release to its member schools that it had adopted a name, image and likeness policy that will take effect with the 2024-25 school year.
Name, image and likeness allows athletes to profit from their image by permitting various entities outside their school to sponsor the athlete.
“We recognize that the sports world is changing and will continue to assess best practices for our schools,’’ said Homar Ramirez, executive director of the NCISAA, in the statement.
The NCISAA policy states athletes must keep NIL deals and their team athletic participation separate. Schools cannot participate in landing deals for the athletes and all deals must earn final approval of the NCISAA.
The N.C. High School Athletic Association approved a similar policy last year, but it was struck down by the state legislature, which decreed those decisions needed to be handled by the state board of education.
NCHSAA athletes are still prohibited from pursuing NIL deals, a situation that veteran coaches like Pine Forest football coach Bill Sochovka feel have the potential to cause problems for NCHSAA schools.
With the recently-approved voucher system that allows North Carolina students to use taxpayer money to attend private schools, Sochovka fears the potential for a migration of middle class students with athletic talent to the private schools isn’t far off.
Once that happens, Sochovka fears public school sports could become a desert, similar to the divide between Memphis, Tennessee, public schools and private schools portrayed in the movie "Blindside."
He said the NIL policy could also change the way a sponsor looks at team sports. Sochovka said he spoke to a local businessman who said if he became involved in sponsoring an athlete, he wouldn’t be as concerned about the team’s won-lost record as he was about how well the athlete he was funding actually performed on the field.
As long as he’s doing well, it wouldn’t matter if the team was struggling.
Sochovka said that could lead to parents pressuring coaches for playing time to make sure their son or daughter gets the chances needed to earn top dollar.
The lone bright spot for Cumberland County in this landscape, Sochovka said, is he expects football won’t be a major issue locally to start since most of the private schools in this area don’t field football teams.
He also doubts there is anyone in this area that can afford anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000 to sponsor an athlete.
When it first investigated the NIL issue last year, the NCHSAA learned that the average NIL high school deal nationwide ran from roughly $60 to $120 per athlete.
By contrast, the highest NIL deal in the country currently belongs to Bronny James, the son of NBA star LeBron James. According to published reports, the younger James makes $7.2 million with deals he has with Nike, Beats by Dre and PSD Underwear.
