The state of Louisiana is finally codifying into law the right for high school athletes to earn money on their personal brands. It had been basically unofficially going on for years before. With that, the possibility exists that neighboring states in SEC territory, like Alabama and Mississippi, could get up to speed and pass similar laws.
I got the chance to speak with Stone Pigman sports attorney Walter "Fritz" Metzinger, III about Louisiana's new NIL, and I asked specifically about whether Kay Ivey or Tate Reeves' states could soon follow.
Fritz sounded hopeful that the competitive nature of NIL will lead to that sooner rather than later.
"I think so," Metzinger said. "You saw that in the college ranks as well. In a region like this, with the focus on football and in the SEC, you don't want to fall behind, and you don't want to give potential athletes a reason to go elsewhere. The context of that is a little different for high school than for college, obviously, because you have high school students that you would at least think aren't going to be moving states as easily or as frequently as, say, a college recruit looking to go to college would, but that certainly happens.
"People move out of state or move to different schools or academies as needed to better or to further their athletic careers. So I think there's a natural element of this to not wanting to fall behind and to making sure, even if there are parts of the legislature or parts of the state that have concerns about allowing this sort of thing, not falling behind in what amounts to an arms race."
I asked if Mississippi being a bit more open about passing laws for gambling and making medicinal marijuana more easily accessible than Alabama could mean the Magnolia State will be quicker to monetize high school NIL possibilities. There wasn't a clear answer, but there was more optimism about competition inspiring both states to keep up.
"Gambling's a part of my practice too, and there are different kinds of factors and determinations on that. Obviously, Mississippi has the coast, which is kind of a big factor there, but no, other than that, I don't think I can really speak to the status or why Mississippi or Alabama would be closer on this, other than to broadly say that if all of your rivals and your regional rivals have their state legislators passing laws, you know it's going to create more of an incentive to keep up," Metzinger said.
Auburn could benefit from Alabama allowing third-party deals
While Auburn University can't pay non-commits in high school, the university's boosters can facilitate third-party deals for anyone if the state gets on board with what Louisiana just did for NIL. The state of Alabama can benefit the Tigers and the Crimson Tide in a major way by passing pro-student-athlete laws. It's a pro-capitalism movement, after all.
It's probably no coincidence that the LSU Tigers are dominating the state of Louisiana on the recruiting trail under Lane Kiffin in recent months. The high school/collegiate NIL ranks, especially as it pertains to the state's top public universities, are all intertwined.
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