The state of Illinois has joined 24 other states and Washington D.C. in voting to allow high school athletes to benefit from NIL.
Just in the last month, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Maryland approved NIL. Then, just this week, Illinois became the latest to join. In Illinois, 419 member schools voted in favor, while 50 voted against and 46 abstained.
Illinois is a large state that produces a ton of basketball talent that would be appealing to companies seeking to advertise. Dan Greene, a NIL expert and attorney at Newman & Lickstein in Syracuse, NY, said that he thinks the Illinois decision could influence nearby states.
The Illinois NIL policy is similar to other states in terms of limitations and regulations.
Limitations include:
- The student may not use any member school’s facilities in association with NIL activity.
- The student may not engage in NIL activity during school hours while traveling to or from any IHSA event or during an IHSA event including any practice, rehearsal, meeting, game, tournament, or any similar event that could be inappropriate or distractive.
- The student may not engage in any NIL activity associated with game/gambling, alcoholic beverages, tobacco, cannabis, banned or illegal substances, adult entertainment products or services, firearms, or other weapons.
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It is a good sign for NIL that larger states are starting to join in. It remains to be seen when states like Florida and Texas will join them.
