Last couple of days we've done the story about NIL coming to a high school near you.
A couple of two days ago it was going to be recommended, then yesterday it was voted and passed, and now it is not because the state legislature has gotten in the way. But I just want to rewind this for a second and bring in our friend B. Dot who is a media megastar here in the state of North Carolina. Done radio in Winston, done radio in Charlotte. He's also the host if you go to Tar Heel basketball games, right? He is the in-arena host. Oh yeah. He is the sixth man of UNC basketball.
He is great. He put this out on his Twitter at B. Dot on NIL coming to high schools. Have I become that old?
Am I that old? Because I don't like that. Nothing good is going to come from this. NIL money has destroyed the collegiate locker rooms. I'm talking about 18, 19, and 20-year-olds.
So what do you think it's going to do to 14, 15, and 16-year-olds? What's going to happen with little madman making this NIL money but got to go back to the projects? He a lick. I'm laughing. We're going to have one little reek going back home with more NIL money than his mama making on third shift working at the Radisson. How are you going to coach kids when little Connor making more lacrosse NIL money than Coach Thompson is for coaching lacrosse?
I don't know if that's a lacrosse coach name. Like nobody's going to leave high school. Every high school senior is going to look like Zeke Cross all because of this food. This is dumb. I don't like it. What do you think? Am I tripping?
Am I just old ass or is this a bad, bad idea? Do you know the North Carolina is the 27th state to adopt this? Okay. Bye. I love him. I do.
I love B-dad too. I told him he was old. We'll get into that issue a little bit more later on. It does raise some interesting topics for discussion, but let me bring in Nick Stevens, managing editor of highschoolot.com. You know what? I'm not even sure that pertains to our conversation, but it's entertaining.
And I love B-dot and I just thought that you might enjoy hearing that too. All right. So when we talked yesterday, it was a done deal. It was, it was passed that a 15-3 vote NIL will be, would, would be the lay of the land in high school athletics as of July 1.
And then the state legislature gets passed state bill or Senate bill 636, which basically cut the legs out of it. Is that correct? Yeah.
Well, first of all, I just want to say, um, you're not going to have kids making a lot more money than I know that, uh, not going to happen. Uh, yesterday they, they said the average high school NIL deal was between 60 and $120. And if that's going to ruin the locker room, it's just not going to happen.
Right. Um, in terms of the state legislature, so the state legislature has a series of bills that they've been putting through that would impact high school athletics at different levels. Senate bill 636 is one that would really strip the NCHS of much of its authority to do anything to govern high school sport. Uh, yesterday that was, uh, amended, uh, shortly after the board of directors passed this NIL policy, it was amended to say that the NCHS does not have the authority to, uh, decide amateur rules, including name, image, and likeness policies that that sits with the state board of education. Um, so yes, that means that what the, the, what the NCHS board of directors did yesterday is for now, null and void that said this bill in terms of that doesn't really change that much to be honest with you, because after past legislation that they, uh, got through, that was trying to take authority away from the NCHS. Uh, this has been an ongoing thing for like two or three years now. Um, the, anything that the NCHS passes, any new rule or rule change has to be approved by the state board of education.
So that would include an IL. Yeah. So, uh, this was already going to have to go through a review process anyway. Um, so, you know, I think that this is more of a political statement from the senators who have been going after the NCHS then it was a material change. Um, you know, I do think that one of the other amendments made in this bill that puts language in there, it allows the state superintendent to unilaterally, uh, get rid of the agreement that they have with the NCHS to continue to run high school sports in North Carolina with just six months notice. Um, and I think there's a lot of questions out there right now about why would you even put that in there if you don't plan on using it? So, um, you know, I think there's some big, big things coming, uh, that we're going to have to keep a really close eye on when it comes to high school sports and the state legislature.
All right. So, I mean, I don't know if you knew what my next question was going to be, Nick Stevens, managing editor of highschoolot.com, but I was going to say, I get the sense this has really nothing to do with name, image and likeness, and it is everything to do with a power play. Um, and is that a fair question? Also, there's some familiarity with the, I guess, the primary sponsor of Senate Bill 636 and an incident that he was not happy with about two or so years ago with a high school being banned from the state football championships. We'll talk about that in a second. But is it fair to say that this almost has nothing to do with NIL, that this is a bigger and broader issue?
I mean, I think it's a fair thing to ask. Um, I think we need to ask the state legislators that question. Um, they said yesterday, uh, Senator Vicky Sawyer, who's one of the three primary sponsors of the bill and has been part of this investigation into the NSHSA for so many years. Uh, she said something along the lines of, this is on a direct quote, but that the NSHSA was trying to exploit children. And, you know, I, I think that what the NSHSA is doing is quite the opposite and to keep children from being exploited, um, by putting these, uh, these rules and regulations out there. So, um, and, and in terms of a power play, like you look at how many bills have been filed in the legislature lately, and it is, it's literally everything from mandating that schools allow people to pay with cash instead of with an app or a card, um, to, uh, how they manage the classifications and their realignment. That's something that's a big deal right now. I mean, it's all these topics, uh, that if all this goes through will really render the NSHSA, I mean, useless to be frank.
All right. And that leads me to the next thing, because I do think you, you raised the point, Nick Stevens is with us managing editor of highschoolOT.com. Um, you raised the point that they put this clause in that allows them to essentially, uh, eliminate with a six month notice, the North Carolina High School Athletic Association, uh, of which I, I think my, my conversations, there's like 50, what, 15, uh, employees, uh, right over in Chapel Hill. I mean, jobs, whatever. Uh, I don't want anybody to lose their job anywhere at any time for any reason, uh, unless you deserve it.
Uh, and I don't think those people deserve it. Um, what are they going to do then? Who's going to run high school athletics? Who's going to, I mean, there's a lot of different things that go into it. This is not just getting a committee together and saying, all right, what do we do? Uh, how do we see these teams?
How do we, what do we do for this championship? There's a lot going on here. Yeah. I have no idea what the answer to that question is. Um, that would be, again, a question that the legislators would have to answer should that time come where, um, they decide that the NCHSA is no longer going to be the party that oversees high school athletics. Um, so, you know, I, I don't know. I, I think that there's a lot of uncertainty ahead. I was listening to the NCHSA commissioner speak this morning to the membership, um, in a virtual, uh, meeting that they had.
And, uh, she basically said the same thing. Um, you know, the future's uncertain for high school athletics in North Carolina right now, uh, because of all of the, the legislation that's out there, some of the legislation contradicts each other. Um, you know, it's just, well, I mean, some of what was in six, some of what was in six 36, um, it may have been amended out. Now it's been amended so many times was, uh, you know, the classifications would have to have to be determined based solely on the enrollment numbers of a school. Well, now you have the, the charter school omnibus bill in the house that says, well, okay, sure, except charter schools and, and parochial schools, yours is going to be based on something else.
Uh, so those two things, if both of those things get passed, those two things are not, you know, congruent with one another. Nick Stevens, you have work to do. Uh, maybe, maybe you'll just run high school athletics in the state of North Carolina. I can assure you, that's not going to happen. I don't know, man. At some point it might, it might fall on you. Uh, that, no, no, I would have to agree to that.
And there's no chance of me doing that. I'm going to appoint you grand poobah. Uh, that is Nick Stevens, managing editor of highschoolot.com. Thank you very much, my friend. Thanks, Adam.
Whisper: medium.en / 2023-05-04 18:12:37 / 2023-05-04 18:17:04 / 4