NIL coming to Florida? FHSAA requests public feedback

[Ray Icaza]

2 hours ago, Perspective said:

I just don't see you can reconcile NIL, on the one hand, and recruiting, on the other hand, in high school sports.    

Colleges are allowed to recruit. It's a major part of whether a team/coach is successful.  And once a school has signaled its intent to recruit a particular player, the collective affiliated with that particular college or university can then step in and try to negotiate a NIL deal with the player being recruited.   Somewhat oversimplified, but I think that's accurate.

High schools are not allowed to recruit.   If anyone associated with a school (coach, parent, booster, etc.) offers/promises to do anything for a prospective transfer student to lure that student to their school, that's recruiting.  And, as the rules are currently written, that's illegal.  Similarly, if anyone (most likely a parent or booster) does anything for a particular player that isn't done for all other students, that's considered to be an impermissible benefit.  And that's also illegal. 

So, how do you re-write the rules to allow NIL without removing the "no recruiting" and "no impermissible benefits" sections of the rules?   Almost by definition, anyone that forms a collective or who personally signs someone to an NIL deal would be considered "a representative of the school’s athletic interests."   If you re-write all these rules to allow NIL, what will you be left with?   

MORE CHAOS!!

[Perspective]

2 hours ago, Ray Icaza said:

MORE CHAOS!!

I'm struggling to find the "Yeah, that's funny, but it's also really sad because it's true" emoji.  

[Perspective]

4 hours ago, SportsFan said:

The problem is when the FHSAA can't really police recruiting it becomes Irrelevant

There are schools who have been told are recruiting and are even on the FHSAA radar because they know it but until a parent or player turns on the school they are getting away with it 

That brings me to this, if a tree falls in the woods and nobody is around does it make a sound? So if someone's recruiting and nobody can actually prove it to the FHSAA what's going to happen to them at all? NIL will just open up another can of worms and make it even more impossible to try and restrict it and that will be the problem we as a state are stuck with because politicians who know nothing about athletics are going to do whatever they want without giving a crap what chaos they create 

Serious question (for everyone):  I know the FHSAA had to back down on the school choice issue, but has the governor, the legislature or anyone else in Tallahassee explicitly or implicitly threatened the FHSAA for cracking down on recruiting?   In other words, why can't the FHSAA be more proactive when it comes to investigating schools that recruit?   If memory serves me correct, the FHSAA was very active a decade or so ago with respect to making sure kids went to the schools for which they were zoned (and making sure there were no apartment deals or other impermissible benefits).   Why can't they do the same thing now with recruiting?   Is someone putting pressure on them to turn a blind eye to recruiting?   Who?   And if you believe that to be the case, please be as factually detailed with your response as possible.  Thanks. 

[Nulli Secundus]

21 hours ago, Perspective said:

Serious question (for everyone):  I know the FHSAA had to back down on the school choice issue, but has the governor, the legislature or anyone else in Tallahassee explicitly or implicitly threatened the FHSAA for cracking down on recruiting?   In other words, why can't the FHSAA be more proactive when it comes to investigating schools that recruit?   If memory serves me correct, the FHSAA was very active a decade or so ago with respect to making sure kids went to the schools for which they were zoned (and making sure there were no apartment deals or other impermissible benefits).   Why can't they do the same thing now with recruiting?   Is someone putting pressure on them to turn a blind eye to recruiting?   Who?   And if you believe that to be the case, please be as factually detailed with your response as possible.  Thanks. 

There's no sense in chasing pots of gold at the end of rainbow without proof or people willing to report "alleged" misconduct.  Investigations cost money and those Max Preps checks only go so far, lol.

[LongtimeVero]

Not a fan of Bianchi bur....https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2024/03/02/nil-florida-high-schools-mike-bianchi-commentary/

 

[SportsFan]

On 3/6/2024 at 2:42 PM, Perspective said:

Serious question (for everyone):  I know the FHSAA had to back down on the school choice issue, but has the governor, the legislature or anyone else in Tallahassee explicitly or implicitly threatened the FHSAA for cracking down on recruiting?   In other words, why can't the FHSAA be more proactive when it comes to investigating schools that recruit?   If memory serves me correct, the FHSAA was very active a decade or so ago with respect to making sure kids went to the schools for which they were zoned (and making sure there were no apartment deals or other impermissible benefits).   Why can't they do the same thing now with recruiting?   Is someone putting pressure on them to turn a blind eye to recruiting?   Who?   And if you believe that to be the case, please be as factually detailed with your response as possible.  Thanks. 

The governor has said in the past that they would pull the FHSAA funding if they ever tried to separate privates and publics or if they tried to interfere with state law (such as the school choice) 

Now that the FHSAA board of directors included 8 people appointed directly by desantis (which alone is a voting majority on the board) it's clear the governor's office and their political party has unanimous control over high school athletics in the state of Florida 

[Perspective]

4 hours ago, SportsFan said:

The governor has said in the past that they would pull the FHSAA funding if they ever tried to separate privates and publics or if they tried to interfere with state law (such as the school choice) 

Now that the FHSAA board of directors included 8 people appointed directly by desantis (which alone is a voting majority on the board) it's clear the governor's office and their political party has unanimous control over high school athletics in the state of Florida 

Understood.   But how does this impact or affect the FHSAA's position on recruiting?   Do the powers-to-be want schools to be able to recruit? 

[SportsFan]

46 minutes ago, Perspective said:

Understood.   But how does this impact or affect the FHSAA's position on recruiting?   Do the powers-to-be want schools to be able to recruit? 

The powers that be don't want anything that restricts an athlete or their ability to chose to attend any school regardless of the reason would be how I would phrase it

[SportsFan]

I would also say by the state leadership personally assigning a voting majority to the FHSAA board of directors it's clear going forward everything the FHSAA does will be in the best interests of the people in Tallahassee not the athletes attending schools or the athletic directors or coaches who put in hours upon hours of their lives to help those kids be successful

In general I feel politicians should stay out of high school athletics especially when they don't actually know what the current climate of athletics in this state is and the meeting when they reversed metro suburban showed how out of touch they were 

[Dr. D]

New NIL bylaws being discussed at the upcoming FHSAA Board of Directors meeting.  It's coming...

https://fhsaa.com/documents/2024/5/7//BOD_Pkt_May_14_2024.pdf?id=5344

[Perspective]

On 5/7/2024 at 9:38 PM, Dr. D said:

New NIL bylaws being discussed at the upcoming FHSAA Board of Directors meeting.  It's coming...

https://fhsaa.com/documents/2024/5/7//BOD_Pkt_May_14_2024.pdf?id=5344

So, after one very brief reading, it appears that the policy will be as follows:   kids, you can cut an NIL deal, but it can't have anything to do with the school you're at or any school that wants you to come there or anyone associated with any of those schools (i.e., boosters). 

[Nulli Secundus]

On 5/10/2024 at 11:06 AM, Perspective said:

So, after one very brief reading, it appears that the policy will be as follows:   kids, you can cut an NIL deal, but it can't have anything to do with the school you're at or any school that wants you to come there or anyone associated with any of those schools (i.e., boosters). 

Independent contractors....   What will go wrong with this?

[Proseteye]

IMO the FHSAA should simply return to the previous rules that if a student transfers from one school district to another they would be allowed to in accordance with Florida law. However, that student could only transfer for academic reasons and would have to remain out of sports for the first full season of that particular sport. As I understand it, when the Florida Legislature passed the law that allowed students to transfer anywhere and at anytime they had academics in mind. It was a law that allowed students to transfer from a poor performing school academically to a good performing school academically and not for the explicit purpose of playing a game. I wonder if the Florida Legislature fully understands what happens when students are allowed to transfer explicitly for sports and how some of those transfers seriously disturb the natural flow of events with the sports team of those schools. To make matters worse they are now proposing that some high school students, that just happen to be good at playing a game, be paid for their participation. Truly amazing.

[muckboy561]

Welp it's been approved....

[Longtime Observer]

It's a bit disappointing that one of the biggest changes in history is getting such little (zero, actually) discussion here.

It is a good bet that the FHSAA will be inept at enforcing the rules around this. Only select programs will be able to capitalize on it THIS year. But, in future years, we will see well-funded programs develop "collectives" or something like them, bring in a higher profile coach than previously possible, and poach players from all over. It probably won't be driven so much by huge fan support, but by a smaller number of wealthy people who want their hand or name in bringing home hardware to the program. That sort of thing has already happened at St. Frances Academy in Baltimore. SFA had really one major investor (the current head coach of UNC-Charlotte) that saved the school from closing with large investments. SFA regularly recruits players from other states, including Florida. SFA is not a member of any state association, so it is literally 100% unregulated, which won't be the case for Florida schools. But, now, more schools will be able to offer an approximation of what SFA has been doing.

[muckboy561]

A lot of the top schools will benefit from this 

[Ray Icaza]

12 hours ago, Longtime Observer said:

It's a bit disappointing that one of the biggest changes in history is getting such little (zero, actually) discussion here.

It is a good bet that the FHSAA will be inept at enforcing the rules around this. Only select programs will be able to capitalize on it THIS year. But, in future years, we will see well-funded programs develop "collectives" or something like them, bring in a higher profile coach than previously possible, and poach players from all over. It probably won't be driven so much by huge fan support, but by a smaller number of wealthy people who want their hand or name in bringing home hardware to the program. That sort of thing has already happened at St. Frances Academy in Baltimore. SFA had really one major investor (the current head coach of UNC-Charlotte) that saved the school from closing with large investments. SFA regularly recruits players from other states, including Florida. SFA is not a member of any state association, so it is literally 100% unregulated, which won't be the case for Florida schools. But, now, more schools will be able to offer an approximation of what SFA has been doing.

The biggest beneficiaries will be the "PRIVATES" (as if they didn't have enough advantages already) as they have the wealthy donners to pay HC's as well as their many assistants, build facilities, provide meals and now even pay players.  Yes, a few publics in larger/wealthier counties will also benefit but this puts most at an even bigger disadvantage.  Unfortunately, this only feeds the broken system even more as I finally am seeing more coaches at traditionally good public programs call for a separate league for private schools and public schools which I have strongly supported for years.  Several states throughout the country have this system and it looks like more are looking at adopting it. 

[Perspective]

14 hours ago, Longtime Observer said:

It's a bit disappointing that one of the biggest changes in history is getting such little (zero, actually) discussion here.

It is a good bet that the FHSAA will be inept at enforcing the rules around this. Only select programs will be able to capitalize on it THIS year. But, in future years, we will see well-funded programs develop "collectives" or something like them, bring in a higher profile coach than previously possible, and poach players from all over. It probably won't be driven so much by huge fan support, but by a smaller number of wealthy people who want their hand or name in bringing home hardware to the program. That sort of thing has already happened at St. Frances Academy in Baltimore. SFA had really one major investor (the current head coach of UNC-Charlotte) that saved the school from closing with large investments. SFA regularly recruits players from other states, including Florida. SFA is not a member of any state association, so it is literally 100% unregulated, which won't be the case for Florida schools. But, now, more schools will be able to offer an approximation of what SFA has been doing.

I just got back from some time away and haven't had the chance to digest what the FHSAA did.  However, last time I read through the proposal, my interpretation was that kids could cut NIL deals, but schools (including their boosters) couldn't have anything to do with the NIL arrangement.   In other words, boosters wouldn't be able to use NIL as a means of keeping existing kids or 'attracting' new talent.  Someone jump in if that's not what the FHSAA ultimately ended up adopting.   And, yes, enforcement is going to be a bear. 

Clearly, the camel is now halfway into the tent and from my perspective, what's inside the tent doesn't look all that good. 

[Dr. D]

My reading of the document is that NCAA-style collectives (think booster clubs) are not allowed to enter into NIL deals with student-athletes.  But an individual business (car dealership, grocery store, etc) can enter into an NIL deal with a student-athlete.  And as long as the owner of the individual business does not work "collectively" with other individual business owners, they are in the clear, even if they are all in the same booster club.  How this is going to be policed is beyond me.    

[ExplorerHomer2]

2 hours ago, Dr. D said:

.  How this is going to be policed is beyond me.    

And that is the main issue right there. How in the world does this get enforced? With no enforcement, those stipulations on who can do what matter little. I agree this will end up being best abused by the already top programs. The rich get richer.

Competitive and fair HS football in this state if not dead already, is clearly in its death throes with this decision.

[Longtime Observer]

4 hours ago, Dr. D said:

My reading of the document is that NCAA-style collectives (think booster clubs) are not allowed to enter into NIL deals with student-athletes.  But an individual business (car dealership, grocery store, etc) can enter into an NIL deal with a student-athlete.  And as long as the owner of the individual business does not work "collectively" with other individual business owners, they are in the clear, even if they are all in the same booster club.  How this is going to be policed is beyond me.    

Meaning the relatively small business owner who's well-off and wanting his school to clean up can still make things happen. Those will be the types that make the most difference.

[Longtime Observer]

2 hours ago, ExplorerHomer2 said:

And that is the main issue right there. How in the world does this get enforced? With no enforcement, those stipulations on who can do what matter little. I agree this will end up being best abused by the already top programs. The rich get richer.

Competitive and fair HS football in this state if not dead already, is clearly in its death throes with this decision.

To be fair, it's no different than in the business world. And HS football is now a business, and there are some athletes who will be rightfully referred to as "professional". You don't have to tell me there is much wrong with this...

[Longtime Observer]

Full disclosure, and I don't think yet NIL related, Lakeland appears to be SMASHING it in the transfer game this off-season. As in, they may well be noticeably more talented than *any* team they face all season. A check of the schedule, and who's in their playoffs division, should make that pretty remarkable. Of course, it's way too early to know for sure how it will pan out come August.