Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) Deals Happening for High School Student Athletes

In what appears to be a first for high school football, ESPN reports that Jaden Rashada, one of the top quarterback prospects in the Class of 2023 (ranked #26 in the ESPN 300) has signed a deal by which he will be paid to promote a recruiting smartphone app.  

This is a significant development in the wake of the NCAA’s policy change now allowing student athletes to enter into NIL deals, which was strictly prohibited prior to 2021.  That door is wide open at the collegiate level, and now apparently at the high school level to some degree. 

It is important to note however, that in some states - including Pennsylvania - the governing body that oversees high school sports prohibit these kinds of deals.  For example, the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association’s bylaws require student athletes to maintain amateur status in order to be eligible to participate in PIAA governed sporting events (which is essentially every organized high school sport).  

Article II of the PIAA Bylaws provides: 

Section 1. Amateur Status Required.

To be eligible to participate in an Inter-School Practice, Scrimmage, and/or Contest, a student must be an amateur in the sport involved. An amateur student is one who engages in athletic competition solely for the educational, physical, mental, social, and pleasure benefits derived thereof and does not receive monetary or similar or equivalent compensation or remuneration for such participation.

A student athlete loses his or her amateur status - and is then ineligible to participate if: 

C. The student plays on, or enters into a contract to play on, a professional team or as an individual professional athlete in that sport; or enters into a contract to represent a corporation, organization or similar entity in competition or by appearing in public on behalf of such entity.  

Bylaws, at Art. II, §2 (emphasis added). 

Thus, while NIL deals for high school athletes are beginning to appear across the country, parents of high school student athletes in Pennsylvania should be aware of the current PIAA rules.  Those rules may change in the future of course, and this will be an issue to watch develop in PA. 

Of course, NIL deals are permitted by Pennsylvania law for collegiate student athletes.

For more information, please contact Tuk Law Offices.

A Small Business Owner’s Guide to Shareholder Agreements, Part I: Voting Power

One topic of conversation that always sparks a lot of interest is how to organize the ownership structure of the company when co-owners or investors are involved.  This post begins a four part series looking at key topics to consider when organizing a company with multiple owners.  In this post, we look at voting power and how it can be distributed.  This topic alone could fill an entire semester in business or law school, so this brief discussion is meant as a beginning point for a review of your own business plans. 

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Business Owners Don’t Need New Year Resolutions, They Need a Plan

Once upon a time, thousands of years ago, ancient peoples began the practice of making annual promises to the gods, or perhaps their king or queen about loyalty to the throne.  That practice has endured to this day.  

We have all made them: more exercise, weight loss, a focus on spirituality perhaps.  From experience, we probably all know that by the summer, if not by the spring, that those resolutions fall by the wayside.  In fact, almost 80% of such resolutions fail by February. 

QUESTION: What does this teach us as business owners and entrepreneurs?

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Employment Law Update: Independent Contractor or W2 Employee?

To determine whether a worker is a W2 employee vs. an independent contractor, the IRS looks at several factors, but the most important factor is the amount of control the employer exerts over the worker’s behavior.

What this means is whether the employer directs or controls how the worker does the work. A worker is an employee when the business has the right to direct and control the worker. The business does not have to actually direct or control the way the work is done – as long as the employer has the right to direct and control the work.

The behavioral control factors fall into several categories:

  • Type of instructions given;

  • Degree of instruction;

  • Evaluation systems; and

  • Training.

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IN THE NEWS: Bryan Tuk's Editorial in The Pittsburgh Current on PA HB561

You can click here to read Bryan’s editorial in The Pittsburgh Current. Below is an excerpt:

While performing for an audience can be a thrill, it is also a job that requires professional musicians to work very hard in order to make a living.  

The economics of the local music business aren’t pretty either.  The money that is offered most local musicians for your average gig at a bar or hotel would shock people if they knew.

With all of these pressures in mind, seemingly out of left field, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives passed a Bill recently that will make the economic life of the professional musician much, much more difficult.

This odious piece of legislation is House Bill 561.   

HB561 allows liquor licensees (hotels, bars, restaurants) to hire minors to perform as musicians, but the same bill expressly prohibits any payment to those performers for their services.  Yes, you read that correctly.  The language of the Bill actually forbids payment to minors even though they are working at the establishment.