Athletic wear powerhouse Nike has signed two sisters who play soccer for a California high school to a so-called “NIL”–name, image and likeness–deal, the first known high school athletes to get such an agreement with a major product manufacturer, ESPN reports.
Alyssa and Gisele Thompson, a junior and sophomore respectively, at Harvard-Westlake High School where they both play soccer. They are committed to playing at Stanford for their college careers and will both play on the US youth national team.
The NCAA recently revoked its rule barring college athletes from making money off their name, image and likeness, a rule which also would bar student-athletes from competing if they made money from their athletic fame prior to entering college.
In other words, if a high school player got paid by Gatorade, Nike, Under Armour or any other brand for something related to their sport, they would not be eligible for a college athletic scholarship. The rule was decried for its broad overreach: students who created fashions for sports gear or who invested an enhancement to sports equipment could have, in theory and practice, been barred from college sports.
In the meantime, college athletics departments were racking in the big bucks from marketing the images and names of their players to be used in video games or on jersey sales, without having to pay the student-athlete a dime.