Open playoff division, shot clock expansion pass as well
The Florida High School Athletic Association voted to allow student athletes to engage in Name, Image and Likeness deals in a historic decision Tuesday.
The motion was unanimously approved by the FHSAA's board of directors in a 13-0 vote. Florida joins more than 30 states across the country that allow NIL compensation at the high school level.
Under the NIL proposal, athletes will be allowed to profit from their name, image and likeness without placing their eligibility at risk. That could include endorsements for a business, which has long been prohibited in the state for high school athletics.
The adopted rules will require students and their parents or guardians to be responsible for negotiating any NIL arrangements. Athletes are prohibited from earning money off NIL while using their school's uniform, logo, equipment or similar intellectual or physical properties.
A provision also forbids schools from using NIL as a recruiting tool to attract athletes to their programs and prohibits students securing an NIL deal after an in-season transfer without a good cause exemption from the relevant school district.
Students violating the NIL policies would result in a formal warning and the termination of the agreement, while a second offense would lead to a one-year suspension.
Unlike in college athletics where collectives are set up for NIL deals, the FHSAA prohibits high schools from doing so. The FHSAA policy defines collectives as “groups, organizations, or cooperative enterprises that exist to collect funds from donors and help facilitate NIL deals for student-athletes, and/or create ways for athletes to monetize from their NIL.”
“We don’t want to pay kids just because they are great athletes. I think that’s the problem with colleges and NIL. They can’t control the collectives,” said board member Ricky Bell. “We don’t want to see that in high schools.”
Several types of NIL deals are also banned with organizations that include adult entertainment, alcohol, tobacco and vaping products, cannabis and related substances, controlled substances and prescription drugs, gambling and related organizations, weapons and ammunition, or political or social activism.
With the passing of NIL comes concerns that the new rules could make transferring even more rampant than it already is in Florida. As of now, the adopted NIL guidelines only prohibit student-athletes who transfer in-season from signing NIL deals for the remainder of the school year.
“It’s not pay-for-performance, per se. But I think we’re trying to avoid what’s happened on the collegiate side,” said board member Sara Bayliss. “I don’t think it will be used widely, but our student-athletes should be compensated as long as it falls between the lines and doesn’t become a recruiting problem. If it does, we’ll deal with it.”
Board member Paul Selvidio expressed concerns over the ability to enforce the regulations.
“The schools don’t have compliance departments,” Selvidio said. “If the NCAA can’t regulate it with its thousands of employees, it’s unreasonable to think schools or the association can. We’re not equipped for that.
But Selvido ultimately voted in favor of it.
“I think there's a lot of fear out there, but I have confidence in the system and that the free market will regulate all of this,” he said.
Shelton Crews, the executive director of the Florida Athletic Coaches Association, spoke out against adopting NIL right now during Tuesday’s meeting. While not totally against it, he wanted more time for additional study before the state passed it.
"There's a lot of scary things there,” Crews said. “Look what has happened in college athletics… The NCAA has not regulated it, and now we're jumping into it, and I don't know if we have the mechanisms in place.”
Crews also cited potential pitfalls of NIL, including an increase of transfers and the effects on coach pay.
“I will be the one to stand up here in three years and tell you I told you so…it’s going to create havoc,” he said.
OPEN PLAYOFF DIVISION ALSO PASSES
In addition to passing NIL, the FHSAA also voted Tuesday to approve a new eight-team Open Division playoff bracket for all team sports starting in the 2026-27 school year.
The new division, which passed by a 12-1 vote, will use the MaxPreps rankings to separate the top eight teams regardless of classification into their own playoff series. The rest of the classifications would then be seeded as they have been.
The new playoff structure will be used for football, volleyball, basketball, soccer, baseball, softball, flag football and lacrosse. Following the final week of the football regular season, or after the district tournaments in all other sports, the FHSAA will split the top eight in the MaxPreps rankings into two groups: teams ranked 1, 4, 5 and 8 and teams ranked 2, 3, 6 and 7.
Those teams will then be placed in double-elimination bracket until the state semifinal and final stage, which will be single-elimination. Teams that win in both the first and second rounds receive a bye for the third round.
The move is an effort to create more competitive balance in the playoffs and avoid blowouts in state championship games.
SHOT CLOCK EXPANSION PASSES AS WELL
The FHSAA board of directors also voted unanimously Tuesday to expand the shot clock in basketball for state playoff games as long as both teams agree to it.
The move is another step forward in implementing the 35-second shot clock. The FHSAA approved the use of the shot clock back in April 2022, but the board removed language that would have required schools to begin using it by 2024-25.
Schools are able to use a shot clock for regular season contests if the teams have agreed to beforehand, provided the home team has one.
While the state continues to move toward potentially using a shot clock permanently, the obstacle for schools is the cost. Shot clocks aren’t cheap for schools for tight athletic budgets — potentially costing thousands of dollars — and they also require an operator.