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Charlie Ward weighs in on future of Name, Image and Likeness in Florida high school sports
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- Charlie Ward weighs in on future of Name, Image and Likeness in Florida high school sports
TALLAHASSEE — Florida high school sports could be heading toward a future with Name, Image and Likeness (NIL).
During Friday morning's Florida state legislature session, the House Education subcommittee heard presentations on the potential of high school athletes getting NIL opportunities from executives of the Florida High School Athletic Association and the Sunshine State Athletic Association, an independent preps sports conference that serves as an alternative to the FHSAA.
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The discussions went on for over an hour.
Florida High boys basketball coach and Florida State University legend Charlie Ward was in attendance at the hearing, brought as a guest speaker by FHSAA executive director Craig Damon to discuss a potential future with NIL in Florida preps sports.
The 1993 Heisman Trophy winner spoke on the potential benefits and concerns that NIL could bring to the state and emphasized the need for clear guidelines regarding its use. Speaking with the Tallahassee Democrat following Friday morning's meeting, Ward said he is in favor of some form of NIL but hopes for regulation.
"I think there's a place for it and there can be a place for it, but it can't be something just rolled out and now you're going to have all the unintended consequences," Ward said. "I think there's some things that you can eat off with the rollout initially and you want to make it to where it matches up with the transfer piece."
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While no clear answer on the future of prep athletes getting NIL approval was given during the hearing, the conversations surrounding the subject are certainly not going away.
Currently, 34 states allow high school NIL monetization in some shape or form, with Florida potentially one of the next states to join the list.
In posts on social media, the FHSAA has encouraged members of the media, parents, athletes and coaches to voice their opinions on the future of NIL in the state's high school athletics.
One of the primary concerns brought up at the meeting was the potential use of NIL to lure athletes from one school to another, specifically regarding private institutions. With transfers becoming a common practice in Florida high school sports due to the state's transfer and school choice rules, the potential of NIL adds another complex piece to the puzzle.
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During the meeting and the FHSAA's presentation, Damon was asked how confident he was that NIL could be monitored and prevented from being used to recruit players. He gave a blunt response.
"On a scale of 1-10, 10 being the highest possible, probably a 0," said Damon.
Ward thinks that NIL can exist without being used as a recruiting tool in the current landscape, but it requires proper implementation and rollout from the FHSAA.
"What you do open yourself up to with our transfer rules is someone you know using it differently, and that's where the policing from the FHSAA comes in," Ward said. "Why would we go down this road to be able to have NIL, essentially because every other state at some point potentially will adopt it, but they have different transfer rules than Florida. I am for NIL if it has specific parameters around it and schools are not involved in it."
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While NIL was initially created for college athletes in part because they are not allowed to hold jobs while on scholarship or make money off their own brands, the lack of clear guidelines has turned the system into something unprecedented.
"The reason why it was prevalent or needed, even mandated in a sense, for the college levels, was because they didn't have access to being able to work, that is why NIL was kind of created," Ward said. "Now it has morphed into a pay-for-play type of system because there were no guardrails and no parameters around that part of it."
Florida High head coach Charlie Ward looks on from the sidelines in a game between Florida High and Andrew Jackson on Jan. 21, 2023, at Florida High. The Seminoles won 56-40.
With there being no regulations on high school athletes being able to hold jobs while playing sports, Ward thinks the FHSAA can find ways to provide NIL opportunities for prep athletes while being able to track and regulate it and avoid what has happened in college.
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As social media has become a prominent part of an athlete's life, Ward said if a player gains a following and can monetize that success they should be afforded that opportunity with the proper criteria. One way of doing that is not involving the school in deals and allowing athletes to be independent representatives for brands or camps interested in working with them.
"Those type of situations where you can easily track the contract, you can easily track the work portion of it, those are the ones that I feel are very needed," Ward said. "That's the reason why you have NIL as something that you can regulate."
While it looks likely Florida could be heading toward a future with NIL monetization, the capacity in which it is provided remains to be seen. Ward feels that when the time comes, the rules need to be direct.
"There has to be parameters around it to make it clear cut without any gray areas or anything," Ward said. "I think that is what the FHSAA is looking to do, which is put some things out there and things in place that they can potentially manage."
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Liam Rooney covers preps sports for the Tallahassee Democrat. Contact him via email at LRooney@gannett.com or on Twitter @__liamroone y
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Charlie Ward weighs in on the potential impact of NIL in Florida high school sports
