What is NIL?

NIL stands for name, image, and likeness. An NIL agreement generally involves a student-athlete receiving money, products, services, or another benefit in exchange for a commercial use of the athlete’s identity.

Common examples may include sponsored social-media content, product endorsements, promotional appearances, autograph sessions, commercial photographs or videos, athlete-branded merchandise, camps or instructional services, licensing an athlete’s name or likeness, and content created for a business.

NIL compensation is different from being paid to play, being rewarded for athletic performance, or signing a professional playing contract.

The AIA’s central NIL rule

The AIA requires every student representing an AIA member school to remain an amateur. A student-athlete may benefit from NIL activity when it is not connected to the athlete’s AIA-sanctioned high-school team or activity program and satisfies every requirement in AIA Bylaw 15.11.1.2.

• Compensation cannot depend upon athletic performance or achievement.
• Compensation cannot be an incentive to enroll in or remain enrolled at a particular school.
• Compensation cannot be provided by the school, booster club, collective, or a person or entity acting for the school or athletic program.
• School, district, and AIA marks cannot be used.
• School-branded apparel and equipment cannot be used.
• An AIA member-school facility cannot be used for NIL activity.
• The endorsement cannot conflict with district policy.
• The athletic director must be notified within five school days after an NIL agreement is entered.
• Families are advised to seek guidance regarding legal, tax, collegiate financial-aid, and NCAA implications.

NIL compensation cannot be pay-for-play

AIA Bylaw 15.11.1.2.1 states that NIL compensation cannot be contingent upon athletic performance or achievement.

Examples of arrangements that could violate the rule

• Payment for points, goals, touchdowns, hits, assists, rebounds, saves, or wins
• Bonuses for becoming a starter, making varsity, receiving playing time, or earning awards
• Compensation tied to rankings, statistics, playoff advancement, or championships
• Payment dependent upon a scholarship, college offer, or participation in a particular game

A proper NIL agreement should define commercial work such as a fixed number of posts, a defined appearance, an autograph session, a photoshoot, video deliverables, an interview, or stated content-usage rights.

NIL cannot influence school enrollment

AIA rules prohibit NIL compensation from being used as an incentive to enroll in or remain enrolled at a particular school. NIL also cannot be used to evade the Recruitment Rule.

Warning signs

• “Attend this school and receive a sponsorship.”
• “Transfer here and a business will pay you.”
• “Remain enrolled here to keep the deal.”
• Free services, tuition, housing, transportation, moving help, or parent employment offered because of school choice or athletic ability
• College-scholarship help offered to influence a high-school transfer

The AIA Recruitment Rule prohibits both direct and indirect recruiting through parents, guardians, coaches, youth-program directors, alumni, boosters, and other people capable of influencing a student’s choice.

Schools, boosters, collectives, and NIL Clubs

AIA Bylaw 15.11.1.2.3 prohibits NIL compensation from the athlete’s school, a booster club, a collective, or any person or entity acting for the school or athletic program.

AIA definitions

A Collective is a group organized or existing to compensate or benefit an individual athlete or group of athletes from a member school. An NIL Club is a group of student-athletes organized to solicit funds or benefits, manage or promote NIL activity, or provide funds or benefits to individual or grouped athletes.

The AIA says a school-supervised booster club is not treated as a prohibited collective or NIL Club when it provides general benefits to facilities, equipment, team meals, or other team-wide needs rather than to an individual athlete or selected group.

School names, logos, uniforms, and facilities

The AIA places strict limits on school connections in NIL activity.

NIL activity may not use

• A school or district name
• A school or district logo or mascot
• A school uniform
• An AIA logo
• School- or district-branded apparel or equipment
• An AIA member-school facility

Families should inspect jerseys, warmups, shoes, backpacks, equipment, scoreboards, court designs, banners, buildings, locker rooms, thumbnails, captions, tags, and backgrounds. Obscuring a mark may not resolve every school-policy, location, or rights issue.

School-district policies still apply

The statewide AIA rule is not the only policy a student may need to follow. Bylaw 15.11.1.2.7 prohibits endorsements that conflict with the athlete’s district policy. Tobacco, alcohol, and controlled substances are listed as examples, but the examples are not exhaustive.

District or school policies may address student conduct, social media, commercial endorsements, intellectual property, uniforms, facilities, conflicts with school sponsors, academic standing, and additional disclosure or approval procedures.

Before accepting a deal, review

• The current AIA bylaws
• The district NIL and social-media policies
• The student-athlete and team handbooks
• School intellectual-property and media rules
• Any athletic-department disclosure or approval form

The five-school-day notification requirement

Within five school days after entering any NIL contract or agreement, the athlete or the athlete’s parent or guardian must notify the school athletic director.

Families should retain the full signed contract, signing date, payer identity, compensation terms, deliverables, start and end dates, notification copy, delivery date and method, delivery confirmation, school response, and amendments.

Parents, agents, managers, and representatives

The AIA rule is not limited to a contract personally negotiated or signed by the athlete. A prohibited agreement entered into by the athlete, a family member, agent, manager, coach, marketing company, business representative, or another person acting on the athlete’s behalf can affect eligibility.

Families should ensure that no representative can accept a deal, promise athlete services, authorize publication, or commit the athlete without clear authority and parent oversight.

Broader AIA amateurism rules

The AIA defines an amateur athlete as someone who has not used and is not using athletic knowledge or skill in an athletic contest for financial gain. It separately states that an amateur athlete cannot compete for money or other monetary compensation.

The current rule identifies limited circumstances involving actual out-of-town expenses, officiating certain non-interscholastic sports, instruction for students not enrolled in high school, compensation from public recreation departments, certain tournaments with professionals, summer schools or clinics, and specific non-AIA activities.

These are specific provisions—not a general permission to receive compensation for athletic competition.

Professional playing and athletic-service agreements

Except for a college or university Letter of Intent, the AIA says an amateur athlete may not enter an agreement for the athlete’s services as an athlete before terminating high-school attendance. The provision includes professional clubs or teams for training and competition.

A true NIL agreement compensates commercial identity rights, endorsements, content, appearances, or licensed uses. Labeling a pay-for-play or professional playing-services agreement “NIL” does not change its substance.

Awards, prizes, and merchandise

AIA Bylaw 13.1.4 states that a student competing as an individual may receive merchandise, medals, plaques, trophies, or another award with a retail purchase value of less than $1,000, exclusive of engraving, with the participant paying the entry fee.

Individual team members may not receive money, merchandise, gifts, or a reward for being selected as the outstanding player of a particular game when athletic performance is the sole basis for selection.

The $1,000 competition-award provision should not be described as a universal $1,000 cap on all NIL agreements.

The Recruitment Rule

The AIA defines recruitment as influencing a student to enroll in or transfer to a school so the student may participate in interscholastic athletics. School administrators, coaches, and district employees may not recruit directly or indirectly.

Examples identified by the AIA include

• Free or reduced tuition connected to athletics
• Money or valuable consideration
• Room, board, clothing, or special privileges
• Payment for work not performed or excessive payment
• Transportation, rent, housing, or moving assistance
• Parent employment used as an inducement
• College scholarship assistance used to induce school choice

Coach contact with prospective students

The AIA restricts high-school coaches and their representatives from initiating school-enrollment contact with students from another high school or junior-high or middle-school setting.

The rule also addresses recruiting calls or visits, recruiting questionnaires or letters, attending youth games to evaluate and recruit selected athletes, and asking parents, athletes, alumni, or boosters to promote a school athletic program to prospects.

When a prospective student or parent contacts a coach about attending the coach’s school, the coach is expected to refer the family to appropriate admissions or school personnel.

Prior contact and transfers

The AIA Prior Contact rule is related to—but distinct from—NIL. A transferring student may face sport-specific ineligibility when certain contact existed with the receiving school during the preceding year.

Potential prior-contact circumstances include

• Training with a receiving-school coach
• Playing on a school or nonschool team operated by receiving-school personnel
• Attending the receiving school’s open gym, weight room, or athletic facilities
• Using a receiving-school coach as a trainer, conditioner, instructor, or private coach
• Attending a camp, clinic, combine, or showcase where a receiving-school coach worked

The rule defines “coach” broadly and can include volunteers, managers, administrators, assistants, and others helping with a school or nonschool team. Families contemplating a transfer should disclose prior relationships to both schools before relying on an eligibility assumption.

Outside participation during the school season

AIA Bylaw 14.4 is not an NIL rule, but it is a significant eligibility provision for families using outside sports organizations.

For listed team sports—including basketball—a student who is or becomes a member of a school team generally may not practice or compete with another group, club, organization, or association in that sport or a derivative of that sport during the interscholastic season.

Private-lesson exception

• Not during the school day
• Not during school practice
• No more than two distinct students and one coach or instructor
• Not paid for, arranged, or provided by the school
• Not used to circumvent the nonschool-participation rule

A violation may result in loss of eligibility for at least the balance of the season and potentially up to one calendar year.

Potential consequences of a violation

The consequences can affect both the athlete and the school.

• Loss of amateur standing: loss in one AIA-sanctioned sport can extend to all interscholastic sports for up to one full calendar year from discovery or until reinstatement.
• Immediate NIL-related ineligibility: a prohibited agreement by the athlete, family, or representative can trigger immediate loss of eligibility.
• Recruitment ineligibility: a student involved in a Recruitment Rule violation is ineligible until reinstated by the AIA Executive Board.
• School penalties: advisement, warning, probation, disqualification, and forfeiture are available.
• Ineligible participation: a school may be required to forfeit contests in which an ineligible athlete participated.

Who determines eligibility?

Under the AIA governance structure, the student’s school is responsible for verifying eligibility. Official eligibility inquiries and requests to the AIA are generally made through responsible school administrators.

1. Begin with the school athletic director.
2. Use the school principal or designated administrator when needed.
3. Consult district legal or compliance personnel where appropriate.
4. Seek an AIA interpretation through the responsible school official.
5. Use qualified legal, tax, or collegiate-compliance counsel when the question extends beyond AIA rules.

An online article, social post, verbal statement, or informal opinion should not be treated as an eligibility ruling.

Federal advertising disclosure rules

AIA eligibility compliance does not replace federal advertising requirements. The Federal Trade Commission says endorsements should make a material connection to a brand obvious. A material connection can include payment, free or discounted products, employment, family or personal relationships, and other benefits.

Common disclosure language

• “Ad”
• “Sponsored”
• “Paid partnership with [Brand]”
• “I received this product free from [Brand]”

Disclosures should be clear, hard to miss, placed with the endorsement, and included in the video when the endorsement is a video. Athletes must also make honest claims and cannot endorse products they have not used.

Contracts involving minors

Because most high-school athletes are minors, a parent should closely review the contracting parties, deliverables, contract term, renewal, termination, exclusivity, morality clauses, compensation, expenses, approval rights, ownership, use of voice, AI and digital-replica rights, post-term usage, confidentiality, indemnification, dispute resolution, governing law, assignment, and tax responsibilities.

A free-product arrangement can still create contractual, advertising, eligibility, tax, privacy, and publicity-right issues.

Taxes and financial records

The AIA advises families to seek professional guidance regarding tax implications. Compensation may include cash, products, gift cards, travel, lodging, services, discounts, equipment, apparel, cryptocurrency, revenue sharing, and appearance fees.

Families should keep contracts, invoices, payment statements, product-value records, expenses, mileage, equipment purchases, professional fees, tax forms, refunds, and canceled payments. A qualified tax professional should determine the treatment for the athlete’s specific circumstances.

Future NCAA reporting considerations

Current NCAA guidance says high-school prospects planning to compete in Division I must report third-party NIL deals worth $600 or more, including smaller payments from the same payer that aggregate to $600 or more, for the applicable pre-enrollment period.

The NCAA currently describes the period as beginning on the later of July 1, 2025, or the athlete’s junior year of high school, with reporting generally due within 14 days after beginning full-time Division I classes or before the first Division I game, whichever occurs first.

NCAA rules, other collegiate associations, conferences, and institutions may change or differ.

Game film, photography, and media rights

An athlete appearing in a photograph or video does not necessarily own it. Potential rights holders include photographers, videographers, schools, tournament operators, broadcasters, the AIA, media companies, clubs, and the person who commissioned the work.

Before commercial reuse, determine who recorded the content, who owns copyright, whether a commercial license exists, whether school marks appear, whether event or broadcaster rights apply, whether other people’s rights are involved, and whether music or graphics are licensed.

Permission to watch or download game film is not necessarily permission to use it in advertising.

Parent NIL review checklist

Any unresolved answer is a reason to pause.

Questions families should ask a brand

1. Who is the legal contracting party?
2. What is the athlete being paid to do?
3. Is compensation fixed or tied to performance?
4. Will school marks, uniforms, equipment, or facilities appear?
5. How long and where may the content be used?
6. Can the brand edit the athlete’s image or voice?
7. Can the brand use AI or create a digital replica?
8. Is the athlete restricted from competing brands?
9. Can the athlete or parent approve the final content?
10. What happens if the school objects?
11. What happens if eligibility is threatened?
12. When and how will compensation be paid?
13. Are travel and expenses included?
14. Can either side terminate?
15. Who handles disclosures and compliance?
16. Will a complete signed copy be provided?
17. Will the brand cooperate with school or NCAA reporting?

Frequently asked questions

Official sources and educational disclaimer