When 17-year-olds becomes celebrity spokespeople

Iowa has become the 15th state to OK NIL (name, image, likeness) for high school athletes.

I will simply repeat: HIGH SCHOOL.

Here what the Iowa High School Athletic Association released yesterday: 

“A student may earn compensation from the use of their Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) consistent with current IHSAA regulations and provided:

• The compensation is not contingent on specific athletic performance or achievement (e.g., financial incentives based on points scored).
• The compensation (or prospective compensation) is not provided as an inducement to attend a particular school (“undue influence”) or to remain enrolled at a particular school.
• The compensation is not provided by the school or an agent of the school (e.g., booster club, foundation, etc.)."

I'm all for freedom and choice and justice, but this could get interesting.

Can you imagine the court cases as judges, lawyers, and juries attempt to tease out whether some car dealership on the north side of Cedar Rapids unduly influenced a star basketball player to attend, say, Kennedy HS instead of Jefferson? 

And how in the world would a court discriminate between an NIL fee paid to the kid who just broke the season scoring record and whether that payment was directly connected to scoring lots of points?

And how long might it take for an enterprising star athlete to "demand" NIL money just to STAY at the school in which she is enrolled? What kind of evidence would be required to demonstrate guilt, and what penalties would apply?

When it comes to public high schools, how exactly do we define "agent of the school"? Is it OK if a "friend" of a booster club member issues the checks? How many degrees of separation are required to be safe?

And, most importantly, where does this NIL craze end? What about that gifted first chair violinist? Or a talented writer or class officer? 

As soon as money is involved, human nature is likely to lead to shady dealings, underhanded contracts and pay-offs, and general distrust.

I wonder how a hard-working student who is NOT an athlete starts to feel about classmates who are reaping financial gain from their social media following. Most students are a bit jealous of classmates who earn full ride scholarships just to play a sport.

I'm sure high school athletes have been taken advantage of and I sympathize with the argument that an individual should be able to share in the financial gain fame has made possible. 

For college athletes, the horse is out of the barn, so to speak, since top programs are closer to professional teams than amateur groups -- though we already see the chaos from college rule changes connected to being able to jump to another school without penalty. 

I am showing my age, I suppose, but it is sad to see even high school athletics lose all sense of innocence and simple love of a game and teammates. 

Everybody has to get paid.