The right of an athlete to contract for compensation in exchange for the use of his or her name, image, and likeness (“NIL”) has become a hot topic in recent years, particularly in the world of college sports. Following extensive federal court litigation, college athletes gained the right to earn money for associating their name, image, and likeness with products and services.
As the NIL industry evolves at the collegiate level, attention has started to turn to high school sports. In each state, including Wisconsin, there is some form of high school athletic association the purpose of which is to facilitate interscholastic sports competition. In Wisconsin, the principal organization overseeing high school athletics is the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (“WIAA”).
Prior to 2025, the WIAA’s amateur status rules precluded student-athletes at WIAA member schools from accepting valuable consideration for the use of their name, image, and likeness. As part of a growing trend in other states in an effort to avoid costly litigation that burdened the NCAA, the WIAA membership adopted changes to its amateur status rules in April 2025 to allow for some name, image and likeness activities by student-athletes. While allowing student-athletes to accept some value in exchange for their name, image and likeness, WIAA rules restrict student athletes from appearing in school uniforms and from endorsing certain products, such as tobacco among others. For the complete language of the WIAA’s NIL rule, one can visit www.wiaawi.org and retrieve the Senior High Handbook under school publications.
You may also reach out to one of our attorneys who has extensive experiences working with the WIAA.