When NIL Happens in Indiana Should NFHS & IHSAA Disband?

[Basementbias]

What would be the point when you can pay & outbid for players to create your teams? Already began in Ohio and will only grow and become a problem. At that point I'm for changing to the European club model and removing athletics from the schools. I enjoy supporting school based athletics, but if the current trend continues, it's on borrowed time. 

[First_Backer_Inside]

20 minutes ago, Basementbias said:

What would be the point when you can pay & outbid for players to create your teams? Already began in Ohio and will only grow and become a problem. At that point I'm for changing to the European club model and removing athletics from the schools. I enjoy supporting school based athletics, but if the current trend continues, it's on borrowed time. 

I've feared high school athletics is on borrowed time without this. Lack of students going out for athletics in a lot of different smaller schools. Lack of multi-sport athletes in a lot of schools. Athletes can get recruited through travel teams on a higher scale. NIL would be the icing on the cake. Unfortunate thing for many people who have grown up putting a lot of time in a sport and put a lot of time in after their playing days were over giving back to the games they grew up loving to see. 

[Julio]

Some high school coaches are even telling parents that if they want their child to get better they need to join travel teams, or elite clubs, or pay to have private training.  It is not just coming from outside sources but school paid coaches as well, just people not wanting to do a job and put hours into coaching unless they are getting paid.

[US31]

If "sports" is ever divorced from the schools...the kids that need sports the most, will have very little access to it.

[BDGiant93]

Indiana high schools are the IHSAA. That's the membership of the organization. The NFHS is actually the National Federation of High School Associations. So, the IHSAA is a member of the NFHS. Unless schools decide to quit the IHSAA, it's not going to disband...nor should it.

I think NIL is going to be adjudicated in court in Indiana at some point. The IHSAA will be forced to act or there will be a reluctant rule made to avoid action by the General Assembly or the Courts forcing them to act. 

It's best that they think about it now, and they probably are. Commissioner Neidig is no dummy. Just my two cents.

[RegionFBFan]

Call me an optimist but athletics will never leave high school. In fact it could go full circle meaning an increase in multisport athletes. The elites may play in club,  get paid nil, and play for IMG like schools but the majority of kids will not. This will open up opportunities for those in high school to participate in multiple sports and enjoy it. Kind of the way it was when I was in high school. 

Will the overall quality decline? Likely but who really cares if you enjoy athletics and competition.

[psaboy]

20 hours ago, Julio said:

Some high school coaches are even telling parents that if they want their child to get better they need to join travel teams, or elite clubs, or pay to have private training.  It is not just coming from outside sources but school paid coaches as well, just people not wanting to do a job and put hours into coaching unless they are getting paid.

That has been happening for many years, had some instances of that back in the md 2010's

[Basementbias]

2 hours ago, RegionFBFan said:

Call me an optimist but athletics will never leave high school. In fact it could go full circle meaning an increase in multisport athletes. The elites may play in club,  get paid nil, and play for IMG like schools but the majority of kids will not. This will open up opportunities for those in high school to participate in multiple sports and enjoy it. Kind of the way it was when I was in high school. 

Will the overall quality decline? Likely but who really cares if you enjoy athletics and competition.

I'm hoping you are right. I'm not hopeful the NIL will be handled properly by any of the NFHS members. I really hope the elite move on with NIL and we get the multi sport athletes favored. I would love for the IHSAA to go to 4 sports seasons similar to Iowa. However there must be more moratorium in my opinion. 

[Irishman]

I think when you look at the high number of states that have it already, the NFHS has taken a hands off approach and will leave accountability up to each state association. 

 

[JustRules]

I've always assumed the way NIL will work for HS students is for agents to get connected with HS athletes so they can represent them on their college NIL. Not so much to recruit kids to play at a certain HS (unless it's part of their college recruiting). I could be wrong.

[US31]

On 12/13/2025 at 11:10 AM, RegionFBFan said:

Call me an optimist but athletics will never leave high school. In fact it could go full circle meaning an increase in multisport athletes. The elites may play in club,  get paid nil, and play for IMG like schools but the majority of kids will not. This will open up opportunities for those in high school to participate in multiple sports and enjoy it. Kind of the way it was when I was in high school. 

Will the overall quality decline? Likely but who really cares if you enjoy athletics and competition.

I think a version of this is the best possible outcome if Indiana goes down the NIL road.  I need @Bobref or someone with actual legal experise to chime in....but is the following a possibility?

"While NIL might become LEGAL, can the IHSAA still say that it would preclude eligibillity amongst its member schools (since it is a membership organization).  Therefore, some schools (be they public, p/p, charter, or otherwise) could opt to leave the IHSAA and take part in NIL.  The rest of the member schools would be making an agreement that NIL is no-go and would make an athlete ineligible"

Is that something that would work?

[Bobref]

26 minutes ago, US31 said:

I think a version of this is the best possible outcome if Indiana goes down the NIL road.  I need @Bobref or someone with actual legal experise to chime in....but is the following a possibility?

"While NIL might become LEGAL, can the IHSAA still say that it would preclude eligibillity amongst its member schools (since it is a membership organization).  Therefore, some schools (be they public, p/p, charter, or otherwise) could opt to leave the IHSAA and take part in NIL.  The rest of the member schools would be making an agreement that NIL is no-go and would make an athlete ineligible"

Is that something that would work?

This is something that deserves more analysis than I can give it. The issue is, while the IHSAA is a membership organization for purposes of its relationship with the schools, a number of court decisions determined it to be a quasi-governmental entity when it comes to dealing with individual student athletes over eligibility matters. That muddies the waters quite a bit. Courts have determined that college student athletes have a constitutional right to be compensated for the commercial use of their name, image and likeness, even though the NCAA is a “member organization.” Not sure that it would be any different for a high school student athlete.

[crimsonace1]

On 12/12/2025 at 3:09 PM, Julio said:

Some high school coaches are even telling parents that if they want their child to get better they need to join travel teams, or elite clubs, or pay to have private training.  It is not just coming from outside sources but school paid coaches as well, just people not wanting to do a job and put hours into coaching unless they are getting paid.

It happens more than you realize. Many years ago, our school had a volleyball coach who threatened to cut kids from the volleyball team if they played basketball, because basketball season conflicted with club volleyball season. She never followed through, but got a couple of kids (who would've helped our basketball team) to quit basketball and specialize. Our two-sport athletes would hide in the locker room until she left before going to basketball open gyms. 

[crimsonace1]

11 hours ago, JustRules said:

I've always assumed the way NIL will work for HS students is for agents to get connected with HS athletes so they can represent them on their college NIL. Not so much to recruit kids to play at a certain HS (unless it's part of their college recruiting). I could be wrong.

A couple of years ago, following a FB thread, one person was surmising on how to get business leaders from a community to pay parents of promising athletes to move to town to bolster their football and basketball teams (this particular school hasn't had a ton of tournament success in either, but has a really intense fanbase). Honestly, that's been happening in some communities for decades (it was very common for a promising young kid at a rural school just happen to see his dad get a really good job in the county seat, and a connection with a real estate agent to get a good deal on a house), but it's going to be more out in the open. 

[Bobref]

My guess is that this is a hill the IHSAA is willing to die on.

[Justasportsfan]

I am here for it, just want to be apart of the governing committee, where can i sign up?

[Titan32]

It won't make much difference if they allow it.  We usually produce about 2 kids in the state good enough to get the kind of attention that would bring any real money their way.

[Justasportsfan]

I'm thinking more of a local aspect, alumni from certain school wants to do a commercial and tells the coach give me a few kids who we can use for our promo. It may not be millions yet when parents learn that certain schools have connections that will allow their kid a few hundred or thousands of dollars, it may influence where they attend.

[Titan32]

10 hours ago, Justasportsfan said:

I'm thinking more of a local aspect, alumni from certain school wants to do a commercial and tells the coach give me a few kids who we can use for our promo. It may not be millions yet when parents learn that certain schools have connections that will allow their kid a few hundred or thousands of dollars, it may influence where they attend.

If the local Bug man wants to do a billboard with the football team to "squash" bugs.....I think Indiana football is going to be pretty much unaffected.

 

[PDB26]

17 hours ago, Titan32 said:

If the local Bug man wants to do a billboard with the football team to "squash" bugs.....I think Indiana football is going to be pretty much unaffected.

 

Couldn’t have said it better.

[Justasportsfan]

18 hours ago, Titan32 said:

If the local Bug man wants to do a billboard with the football team to "squash" bugs.....I think Indiana football is going to be pretty much unaffected.

 

$100.00 handshakes turning into $1,000 or $3500.00 handshakes could mean a world of difference for a senior class who would otherwise get nothing at all..No star ratings, just solid kids who coaches think deserve something for being seniors on the team. Walk the halls and ask any kid of they would care for 3k cash, knowing they wouldnt get that anywhere else and I think we have some winners..the better the player..the higher the kickback..If parents know a program has something set up that their kid will recieve something for playing, i can see that being a recruiting tool is all im going for..if skillman decides to pitch in 100k a year for NIL and everyone gets a cut, you dont think more kids will be looking to transfer?

[Titan32]

44 minutes ago, Justasportsfan said:

$100.00 handshakes turning into $1,000 or $3500.00 handshakes could mean a world of difference for a senior class who would otherwise get nothing at all..No star ratings, just solid kids who coaches think deserve something for being seniors on the team. Walk the halls and ask any kid of they would care for 3k cash, knowing they wouldnt get that anywhere else and I think we have some winners..the better the player..the higher the kickback..If parents know a program has something set up that their kid will recieve something for playing, i can see that being a recruiting tool is all im going for..if skillman decides to pitch in 100k a year for NIL and everyone gets a cut, you dont think more kids will be looking to transfer?

I think this is a pretty convoluted sceniro to have much if any noticable impact on any kind of scale.