Can high school athletes make money? How is it that big name athletes cannot yet make money off of their name, image and likeness? Is this something that will change in the future?
In an overall look, high school athletes are currently not allowed to sign any endorsement deals in connection to their high school teams. However, there is some sort of give when it comes to certain states allowing athletes to be paid for things like signing autographs or even holding camps in private. Also, keep in mind that these rules can vary by school, depending on whether they are affiliated with a state high school athletic association.
If a person has the ability to earn money from anybody doing anything in the realm of the law then we are forced to wonder if it is maybe un-American to pretend that they shouldn’t be able to make money based on rules of athletics that don’t really make any sense.
Joe Martin, the executive director of the Texas High School Coaches Association, said that several problems could develop if some players had endorsement contracts: Tension and jealousy in the locker room that undermine team spirit and cohesiveness. Heightened abuse of transfer rules as powerhouse high schools recruit players on the promise that they can better build their brands with enhanced visibility. Awkward situations where some high school players make more money than their coaches.
On a positive side there was a proposed revision by the New York state association, similar to a California rule, that would allow high school athletes to profit off their name, image and likeness as long as it was not done in association with a school, team, uniform or logo.
As every single one of these issues are important to note and think about; it is also wise to think about the fact that there are literally five year old children on youtube making millions of dollars reviewing toys where extremely talented high school athletes that are in many ways more marketable certainly deserve any check that they can get.
All of that being said, there are a lot of top recruits now having only a three year high school journey as they leave to go make money.
Quarterback Quinn Ewers of Southlake, Texas, was expected to lead his city’s storied high school team this fall in its quest for another state championship as the nation’s top football prospect.
Instead, on Aug. 2, Ewers announced that he would graduate early, skip his senior season at Carroll Senior High School and enroll at Ohio State to pursue the starting quarterback job there and potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars in endorsement deals that N.C.A.A. athletes are now free to negotiate.
I mean with college athletes now allowed to profit from their name, image and likeness, high school athletes are also looking to cash in. Honestly, why wouldn’t they?
