Still in its infancy, NIL education remains at the forefront of the OSSAA’s goals

On Oct. 5, the Oklahoma Secondary Schools Activities Association released guidelines for athletes interested in profiting off their name, image and likeness (NIL).

In a one-page document, the organization revealed the parameters in which student-athletes can earn compensation, provided that pay isn’t contingent on three things:

Specific athletic performance.

Isn’t an incentive to enroll or remain enrolled at a specific school.

Not provided by the school or any person acting as an agent for the school.

More than a month later, still several burning questions remain.

in the first year?With the guidelines being barely a month old, the OSSAA’s top priority this year is to help educate member schools to properly educate coaches, administrators and student-athletes on what to expect with NIL.

“I’ve met with superintendents across the state that are saying, ‘We need to understand the implications, what do we need to do and how do we need to help our coaches,’” said Bryan Bedford, who is the CEO of Recruit Route and the Bedford Agency, companies dedicated to educating student-athletes on NIL.

With the help of Bedford and Randy Eccker, the CEO of Eccker Sports, another company dedicated to understanding NIL, the OSSAA is striving to spend the next 12 months assisting schools in the state to better understand the concepts of name, image and likeness.

“This is not about having a heavy fist in being some huge enforcement thing,” Bedford said. “We really want to train people. We want to educate people. There’s a great opportunity to learn a lot.

“There’s great life lessons here, about business, entrepreneurship, branding and marketing. There are lots of great things that kids can learn from this. But like anything, you wouldn’t just hand a 16-year-old that hasn’t taken driver’s ed” keys to a car.

The organization plans to prioritize and produce workshops and meetings to help everyone at the high school level better understand the rules in place.

Are student-athletes interested?When the NIL guidelines were published by the OSSAA in October, it wasn’t uncommon to see student-athletes take to Twitter and other social media platforms to show their interest in signing a deal.

“I think there’s naturally some interest and intrigue,” Bedford said.

Bedford said Thursday he has received numerous phone calls from families, coaches, administrators, booster groups and marketing agencies to better understand the rules behind engaging in NIL talks at the high school level since the rules were passed.

“Once you really start to talk to parents, it becomes apparent that this isn’t some sort of ‘quick buck’ kind of thing,” Bedford continued. “It won’t be right for every person. It will be case-by-case. I think it’s a fairly small group that pursues this.”

While there is interest, players have had mixed thoughts on the legislation. During the Tulsa World’s high school winter sports photo day, a questionnaire yielded that student-athletes showed both a lack of interest in searching for deals and some who were currently active in searches.

“That being said, there are students already engaging in what we would call name, image and likeness,” Bedford said. “There are kids that have large social followings in the state of Oklahoma in various different capacities.”

What hurdles are still down the road?NIL has steadily evolved since being implemented at the college level in 2021 — the bylaws were revised three times in a span of 15 months — the biggest hurdle with Oklahoma’s NIL guidelines will be how they evolve over the coming years.

“The good part about this is the OSSAA has two really solid policies that were already existing that schools were abiding and acting upon,” Bedford said of the OSSAA’s Rule 5 and Rule 9.

The OSSAA’s Rule 5 deals handles matters with involving athlete amateurism, while Rule 9 focuses on recruiting for athletic purposes.

“When you talk about talent shuffles, those two rules are in place to really prevent movement and the bagman coming to move a kid to a different place,” Bedford said.

At the college level, NIL concerns were initially tied to similar issues. Student-athletes would be able to freely move to a different school where money could be more readily available than at others.

But the contrary happened with the NCAA. NIL has rather spread the wealth of talent out.

While it’s too early in the process to see how NIL will affect Oklahoma high schools in the offseason, OSSAA associate director Mike Whaley said it will be something they follow.

“The evolution of it is what is concerning to us,” Whaley said. “We are concerned that the NIL will have an impact on Rule 5 and Rule 9. If you want to qualify this of where our interest is at, that is what our interest is at.”

The current OSSAA guidelines — while broad — were created that way for evolution to naturally evolve over time. It’s similar to how other states are going about crafting legislation.

“They’re designed on purpose to evolve,” Bedford said.