Michigan high school athletes can now make money off personal image
MHSAA logo art with original photo of the football stadium at Breck School in Golden Valley.(Photo By MARLIN LEVISON/Star Tribune via Getty Images)
FOX 2 - High school student-athletes have been approved to benefit from personal branding opportunities - commonly referred to as Name Image Likeness for their college counterparts.
The backstory:
The Michigan High School Athletic Association made the announcement Tuesday that the change is effective, immediately as of Jan. 27.
Teen athletes are now allowed to earn compensation through personal branding, including endorsements, appearances, social media promotions, and other similar activities, the MHSAA said in a statement.
Michigan is the 46th state to allow high school NIL policies, according to the Business of College Sports high school NIL tracker.
Rather than refer to it as NIL, the state has declared it PBA, or Personal Branding Activities. An example for the scope of activities for the student-athletes to earn money include:
- Commercials and product endorsements
- Personal appearances or acting as a social media influencer
- Autograph or photo sessions
- Merchandise, sports cards and apparel sales
- Group licensing and personal logos
"We have said from the start that the MHSAA could be comfortable with a policy that provides individual branding opportunities for individual student-athletes, and this rule change provides those while excluding the possibility of collectives, and boosters and school people getting involved," MHSAA Executive Director Mark Uyl said in a release. "This is the essence of what NIL was supposed to allow in the first place, and we’re confident we’ve crafted language that allows true NIL opportunities without affecting competitive equity among our member schools."
What isn't allowed:
Any use of the athlete's imaging likeness including their school or team is not allowed.
"A student-athlete shall not use the name, logos, mascots, trademarks, or other obvious identifiers of the MHSAA or any MHSAA member school or use the facility or property of any member school," the MHSAA said in a statement. "A student-athlete should not imply that the member school or the MHSAA approves of or endorses the PBA."
Longtime high school sports writer Mick McCabe who covered preps for more than 40 years, said the ruling shouldn't be a surprise.
"I don't think it's the end of the world that some are making it out to be," he said. "Forty-five other states are already doing this. The MHSAA has written out the rules correctly to keep (things from happening like) schools stealing athletes."
The state's athletic association also says the PBA is not a pay-to-play contingent on player performance or connected to an athlete attending or staying at a particular school.
Another rule is the type of product or business endorsement must be appropriate. In short, think no gambling, alcohol products, tobacco, cannabis, banned or illegal substances (including performance-enhancing substances), sexually explicit content, firearms or weapons.
"Products, services, individuals, companies, or industries" must be safe and consistent with the values and goals of interscholastic athletics."
McCabe, a member of the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame, said that the new ruling will likely not impact the majority of student-athletes in general.
It will likely play a role with highly recruited prospects, however, like former Belleville High School quarterback Bryce Underwood. The current Michigan Wolverines starter was the consensus top-ranked college recruit in the country as a senior standout for the Tigers in the 2025 recruiting class.
Highly touted prospects or those being recruited, will now have a chance to benefit from their likeness and have paid influencer social media posts among other opportunities.
One additional caveat is that high schools may impose their own stricter rules regarding a student-athlete’s PBA and eligibility to participate in athletics, the rule states.
Student-athletes with PBA agreements must report them to the MHSAA and their high school within seven days by submitting this form.
For all the information on the rules CLICK HERE.