NFHS Director Dr Karissa Niehoff Discusses Her Assessment of NIL 10 Months In

Dr Karissa Niehoff recently joined the High School Basketball Happenings Podcast to discuss some of her thoughts about the current NIL landscape at both a collegiate and high school level, while offering her advice to athletes potentially seeking NIL deals.

The first major idea that Niehoff talks about is educating high school and college athletes on the NIL landscape. Niehoff explains that the landscape can be very difficult to navigate especially for a young student athlete and that it’s important to make sure all potential athletes pursuing an NIL deal know all the facts first. She said, “Let’s make sure it’s the right information, the right guidance, the information they need and lets let the contract attorneys, the agents and agencies do right by the kids.”

Niehoff also discussed some of the NFHS concerns regarding student-athletes utilizing their name, image and likeness. She explains the fact that she and the NFHS are content with high school athletes utilizing NIL and understand that many of the top high school athletes throughout the country can make a lot of money when it comes to NIL. However, Niehoff explained that they don’t want NIL to get to the point where high school athletes are making money by wearing their high school uniform. She said, “A high school student can be an incredible entrepreneur. We know that they are already doing this. They’re influencers.They’re actually engaging in some pretty high stakes relationships with business opportunities. We are not at the point yet where they’re getting paid to wear their high school jersey. That’s what we hope we protect.”

Despite some of the concerns that Niehoff has when it comes to Name, Image, and Likeness, she knows that athletes can do a lot of good by utilizing NIL. When asked about some NIL deals that have “made her smile”, Niehoff talks about athletes getting involved in their communities while also receiving financial benefits from doing so. She said, “There’s nothing that does more for a local community than a collegiate basketball player or even a high school star that goes back into their city or community and says ‘I’m going to put on some clinics and I’m going to get the young people from my neighborhood and “’m going to be able to earn some money doing it.’” 

If you want to become more educated about the high school NIL landscape from the Executive Director of the NFHS, give this podcast a listen!

To learn more about where NIL is, check out the CleanKonnect NIL Certification Course.