DIAA board narrowly approves rules allowing high school athletes to profit from NIL

Name, image and likeness opportunities are officially coming to Delaware high school sports.

The Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association board of directors narrowly approved new regulations allowing student-athletes to profit from NIL at its monthly meeting Thursday at the Polytech School District office in Woodside.

They still must be approved by the Delaware Board of Education before implementation. Delaware would then join more than 30 other states that have approved NIL for high school athletes, following the lead of the NCAA having done so in 2021.

In an hour of discussion and debate, several board members expressed concern about adopting NIL. Mark Robinson suggested doing so risked “changing circumstances not for the better,” and Joseph Papili likened it to a “slippery slope” because it could foster greater inequities between schools than what already exist.

There was repeated reference to the importance of “guard rails” that would prevent schools from taking advantage. But after one proposal to table a decision was defeated, the board voted 8-6 to approve regulations allowing NIL to be implemented.

“It’s a game changer,” board chairman Doug Thompson said. “It’s gonna happen. How do we control it?”

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DIAA executive director Dave Baylor, who does not vote, told the board it had “an opportunity to control our own direction” by making a ruling that would ensure “a level of accountability to each other.” That was centered, he added, on “keeping the schools out of it.”

The DIAA regulation says “a student may earn compensation from the use of their name, image and likeness provided that the compensation is not contingent on specific athletic performance or achievement, is not provided as an incentive to enroll or remain enrolled at a specific school, and is not provided by the school or any person acting as an agent for the school.”

Importantly, it may not include the DIAA’s or a school’s name, colors, logos, mascots or acronyms, including on the student’s apparel. School facilities may not be involved.

High school athletes typically earn NIL opportunities through signing autographs, making appearances, touting merchandise, providing instruction and endorsing products, according to an NIL prep kit published by Triple Threat Leadership for high school administrators.

Social media promotion and posting often involving apparel brands is particularly common. Compensation could be in monetary payments but also in free or discounted products or services, travel, meals or merchandise.

Some board members recognized NIL as just an inevitable part of an evolving sports landscape.

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“I don’t know how much longer we’re going to be able to stave this off,” Shawn Larrimore said.

As a result, Larrimore said, “we need to try to control what we can control” and “make it very clear” how member schools “are going to conduct themselves” by ensuring rules are followed.

Fellow school district superintendent Dorrell Green echoed Larrimore, urging that the DIAA “control it as best we can.” Both voted for approval.

Girls wrestling’s growth recognized

Girls wrestling has received DIAA sanctioning that would allow it to eventually host its own championship, though when remains uncertain.

Females presently compete on boys teams and against boys in Delaware. Buddy Lloyd, chairman of the DIAA wrestling committee, urged the board to recognize girls wrestling as “an emerging or individual sport” to provide better opportunities for girls to continue that, but also create more opportunity to wrestle against girls.

Lloyd added doing so would “build interest” and “allow schools to advertise and promote” girls wrestling to the point in which girls could eventually have their own individual and team championship as well.

Saint Georges presently has the only full girls team at a Delaware high school, though Smyrna did several years ago. But more than a dozen schools have girls on their boys teams.

Girls wrestling has been the nation’s fastest-growing high school sport, according to participation rates compiled by the National Federation of State High School Associations. Its 2022-23 survey released last fall said there were 49,127 female wrestlers nationally, including 55 in Delaware.

That Delaware number was 98 this past season, according to Vic Leonard, founder and board member of the Delaware Wrestling Alliance. There were fewer than 10,000 female wrestlers nationally just 10 years before.

Forty-five states presently conduct girls high school championships, Mike Moyer, executive director of the National Wrestling Coaches Association, told the DIAA board. There are now 173 collegiate women’s programs, Moyer added, saying the sport “is just exploding.” Moyer said interest grows considerably at the high school level “when girls don’t have to wrestle boys.”

The second annual Best of the East girls tournament in Newark last December had 160 entrants, including 11 from Delaware. It will have more than 400 in December of 2024, Leonard said.

Delaware has already had successful female wrestlers. Caravel Academy sophomore Natalie Radecki recently placed sixth at the U.S. Marine Corps Women's Nationals in the under-15 division at 42 kilograms (92.5 pounds) and will likely compete on U.S. teams internationally this summer.

Wrestling against boys during the high school season, Radecki went 23-10 this past season, placed fifth at the Independent Schools Qualifying Tournament and was seeded 12th among the 16 wrestlers at 106 pounds for the DIAA meet. She won one of three matches there, doing so with a second-period pin. Radecki also qualified for the DIAA meet as a freshman in 2023.

In 2023, Delaware Military Academy senior Alyssa Mahan won a DIAA tournament match as the 10th seed at 126 pounds. As a freshman this past season at Presbyterian College, Mahan placed third at 123 pounds in the Southeast Regionals to qualify for the National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships and led her team with 32 wins.

Basketball shot clock could be coming

The DIAA board discussed possible implementation of a shot clock for boys and girls basketball, though it does not appear imminent. It was acknowledged some schools are better situated with timing equipment, modern scoreboards and necessary personnel than others.A two-year time frame was suggested to gather information and possibly prepare schools for adding shot clocks.

“There are a lot of mechanics that have to go with this discussion so there’s buy-in and people who are going to do it are able to do it right,” Baylor said. “… If we choose to do this, we have to talk through all these processes so when it’s up and running there’s no hiccups.”

Contact Kevin Tresolini at ktresolini@delawareonline.com and follow on Twitter @kevintresolini. Support local journalism by subscribing to delawareonline.com and our DE Game Day newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: DIAA board narrowly approves rules allowing high school athletes to profit from NIL