IHSAA board votes to allow Indiana high school athletes to sign NIL deals

High school athletes in Indiana will soon be able to sign NIL deals. The Indiana High School Athletics Association (IHSAA) board voted to approve “personal branding activities” starting with the 2026-27 school year.

The IHSAA board of directors passed the PBA rule change by a 13-5 vote, which will allow athletes to sign NIL deals while maintaining their amateur status, according to Monday’s announcement. Deals cannot include school representation or be related to products such as gambling, alcohol or banned substances, among others. They also cannot be tied to recruitment in order to get an athlete to enroll at another high school.

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Indiana was one of a handful of states to entirely prohibit NIL at the high school level as of the 2025-26 season. When the new rule takes effect, it will become the 46th state to allow athletes to sign deals, along with the District of Columbia. Michigan was the latest to change its bylaws, doing so in January.

“Unlike the current college system, where schools often play a direct role in NIL compensation, the new rule keeps high schools out of arranging or funding deals for student-athletes,” said IHSAA commissioner Paul Neidig in a statement. “Instead, it allows students to benefit independently from their school, without using school branding or representing school-sponsored endorsements. It creates a clear distinction between the college model and the educational mission of high school athletics.

“We believe it is far better to be proactive and create thoughtful, education-based guidelines than to have policies forced upon high school athletics. This approach allows to protect the values of high school sports while adapting responsibly to a changing landscape.”

Under the IHSAA’s previous bylaws, Indiana high school athletes cannot have “accepted remuneration, or a benefit other than of a symbolic nature, directly or indirectly, for athletic participation in that sport” due to their amateur status. That meant NIL was prohibited.

Once Indiana’s new rules take effect, four states be left that prohibit high school NIL entirely. Alabama, Wyoming, Hawaii and Mississippi currently do not allow athletes to enter into deals at the high school level.

An Alabama state representative filed a bill once again to change that, though the bill but did not advance after its introduction in January. Additionally, a bill in Mississippi – which would have allowed athletes to sign deals up to $10,000 – did not make it out of a House committee.

Other states have limitations on high school NIL. Texas, for example, does not allow athletes younger than 17 years old to sign deals.