South Dakota is just a few days away from deciding something that has been years in the making.

On April 16, the South Dakota High School Activities Association proposed an amendment to its constitution and bylaws that would allow high school student-athletes to be paid for their name, image, and likeness.

But likely less than 1% of high school student-athletes in the state would be impacted by the amendment if it passed, according to SDHSAA Executive Director Dan Swartos. This will be decided soon, with those who violate the outlined policy at risk of losing their eligibility, but school officials say they’re ready for it.

Several local administrators said that while there is always some level of concern with introducing a constitutional amendment, they believe that the SDHSAA crafted the amendment well to mimic what the NCAA has in their policy while tailoring it to the state and clearly outlining what an athlete can or cannot do to lose their eligibility.

Here’s how we got here

On July 1, 2021, the NCAA adopted their name, image and likeness policy that allowed student-athletes to monetize their NIL.

It was only a matter of time before the effects of the college policy trickled down to the high school level. In the spring of 2022, California became the first state to allow high school athletes to enter NIL agreements.

Since then, 31 states have passed a rule to allow their high school student-athletes to earn money on their name, image and likeness, according to the Business of College Sports.

The South Dakota High School Activities Association has been looking at proposing an amendment for years, Swartos said. The SDHSAA is aiming to pass the amendment because the language of its current policy is outdated. Under the current policy, a student-athlete violates their amateur standing by receiving money for the use of their name, image and likeness, but in today’s age of social media, it’s difficult to differentiate between receiving money as an athlete vs. an individual.

The example Swartos used was if a high school football player who streams on Twitch and has 10,000 followers monetizes their stream. In that case, are they earning money as an individual or off their name as an athlete? And how is that different from any student just working a part-time job?

“It’s just sort of trying to lay out some groundwork to separate here’s what it means to be doing business as an athlete, and here’s what it means to be receiving money just as an individual,” Swartos said of the amendment. “So trying to separate that out and clean it up and really define what we have in place already, is what we are going for, and using what a lot of states around us have put in place already.”

Impact

Approval of this constitutional amendment would allow high school student-athletes to profit off of their name, image, and likeness. The number of student-athletes who will be offered deals is unknown.

Swartos said the estimate is that around 1% of high school student-athletes will be affected by the constitutional amendment if it passes.

“In all likelihood, we’re probably talking about a handful of kids who will have these opportunities,” Swartos said.

Counterforces

There is always some level of concern when discussing an amendment, but there wasn’t an unusual level of concern about this amendment, according to Canton athletic director Jacob Versteeg.

Swartos said there are always recruiting concerns, and that extends to the passing of the NIL amendment.

While some states have high school student-athletes report their NIL deals to their state activities office, the SDHSAA won’t have that right off the bat. However, the organization is open to implementing a similar system if there’s a need for it.

Currently though, if the amendment is approved, the SDHSAA would get notified of rule violations by schools and then investigate the situation themselves.

“We don’t have the manpower to be out driving around communities and checking to see if people are breaking rules or not,” Swartos said. “We have to rely on the integrity of our schools, we have to rely on the integrity of our kids and that’s worked really well. That’s how we’ve been set up for 100-plus years now.”

“If it’s something where we need to establish a central sort of registry for these deals, we can certainly look at that,” Swartos continued.

Here is the full list of guidelines the SDHSAA is proposing:

• The activities don’t interfere with the student’s academic obligations

• Remuneration is not tied to athletic performance (they’re not paid per touchdown or per hit)

• The remuneration is not used as an inducement to attend a particular school or transfer to a particular school.

• The remuneration is not provided by the school or agents associated with the school (i.e. booster clubs, foundations)

• SDHSAA or member school marks or logos may not be used in any activity where the student receives remuneration for the use of name, picture and/or personal appearance, nor shall the SDHSAA or member school name/mascot be referenced in the activity.

• Member school uniforms may not be used (worn, displayed, or otherwise) in the activity.

• Clothing or equipment with the member school or SDHSAA logo may not be used in the activity.

• Member school facilities may not be used in the activity.

• SDHSAA or member school awards/trophies may not be displayed or referenced in the activity.

• The student shall not promote or endorse activities associated with alcohol, tobacco, vaping, controlled substances, gambling, banned athletic substances or other illegal substances/activities.

• Member schools may not arrange, develop, or promote the relationship between the student and the involved entity.

What’s next?

The SDHSAA Board of Directors approved the second reading of the NIL amendment, meaning the next step is the vote. Member schools have until May 31 to cast their votes. For the amendment to pass, it needs 60% favorable votes.

After the vote, the next key date to watch is June 12, when the Board of Directors will verify the results of the election and the amendment at their BOD meeting. If it passes, the amendment will go into effect July 1.

Jonathan Fernandez covers high school and college sports for the Argus Leader. Contact him at jfernandez1@argusleader.com. Follow him on Twitter at@JFERN31

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: SDHSAA NIL: Concerns and potential impact of proposed amendment