SAN ANTONIO - The University Interscholastic League (UIL), which oversees the governance of public school athletics in Texas, is currently "very entrenched in the process" of understanding the new Name, Image and Likeness rules.
UIL Deputy Director Dr. Jamey Harrison spoke to the media on Sunday morning - the opening day of the 2021 Texas High School Coaches Association School - inside the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center and addressed NIL.
"We were aware of the conversations, so we were having internal discussions about that might look like," Harrison said. "That conversation was trying to follow two paths simultaneously. One is, with our existing rules is there a way for a student to benefit from their name, image and likeness without running afoul of their rules and how that might work. The other conversation was about future rule changes and how that might happen.
"We have had no changes to our amateur rule in the past couple of years."
The Texas Legislature, like many states, passed its own legislation surrounding Name, Image or Likeness with the passing of S.B. 1385, which went into affect for collegiate athletes on July 1.
In that bill though, Section J covered high school athletes and recruitment of athletes.
| No individual, corporate entity, or other organization | |
| may: | |
| (1)enter into any arrangement with a prospective | |
| student athlete relating to the prospective student athlete's name, | |
| image, or likeness prior to their enrollment in an institution of | |
| higher education; or | |
| (2)use inducements of future name, image, and | |
| likeness compensation arrangement to recruit a prospective student | |
| athlete to any institution of higher education. |
When the NCAA does pass new laws for collegiate athletes, that does not mean it is the same for high school athletes, Harrison said and there has been some confusion around NIL.
"[HS athletes] need to be very careful about reading too much of what they see on social media or even mainstream media about how they now have opportunities that they didn't previously have because I'm not sure they do.
"Our rules are readily available on our website and they aren't NCAA rules."
The UIL is currently working with state legislatures and legal council to fully understand the new NIL rules and how it may affect high school athletes and are expected to put something out this fall.
"We are hoping to have some of that final information in the next few days but we don't control that timeline," Harrison said. "We are in wait and see."
The UIL Legislative Council is slated to meet again in October.