MIAMI (CN) — Two student athletes say in a suit filed Monday that policies regulating compensation for student athletes in Florida violate the state's antitrust laws and their freedom to contract.
The plaintiffs in the putative class action are suing the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSSA), the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Under current FHSAA rules, high school student athletes cannot "capitalize on athletic fame by accepting money or gifts of a monetary nature." And a state statute limits the amount of time during which a college athlete can profit on their likeness.
The suit filed in the 11th Judicial Circuit Court in Miami-Dade County comes after the NCAA implemented an interim policy in June 2021 that allows for college athletes to profit from their name, image and likeness. This policy was enacted shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled in NCAA v. Alston to strike down NCAA caps on student-athlete academic benefits.
According to the NCAA, prospective student-athletes may engage in money-making activities based upon their likeness without impacting their NCAA eligibility as long as they are "consistent with the law of the state where the school is located" and they are not being paid to play or their earnings are not an inducement used in recruiting.
The lawsuit claims that the NFHS — which regulates eligibility and participation for sports activities in member groups, including the FHSAA — made more than $15 million from 2019 to 2020 and the FHSAA made $5.4 million from 2020 to 2021. These revenues were "generated by the blood, sweat, and injuries of high school athletes," the lawsuit states.
"Instead of allowing these athletes to begin earning a living while their bodies and abilities are young and healthy, the FHSAA and NFHS prevent these athletes from profiting off their successes and abilities," the complaint states.
The plaintiffs are represented by John H. Ruiz and other attorneys with the MSP Recovery law firm.
MSP Recovery developed a platform designed to allow individuals to securely store all their medical and prescription information so that health care professionals can easily access patient records. The platform, called LifeWallet, offered endorsement contracts to the two plaintiff students, Sal Stewart and Gilbert Frierson.
Stewart, who plays baseball for Westminster Christian High School, could not accept the contract because of FHSAA bylaws.
Frierson plays football as an intercollegiate athlete for the University of Miami and has one year of eligibility remaining. According to the complaint, he has a one-year contract with LifeWallet, but would have entered into a longer one if it weren't for a state statute that restricts college athletes from entering into a contract for compensation that extends beyond their participation in their college athletic program.
The suit seeks a declaraction that state law "imposes an arbitrary cap" on such contracts and asks the court to declare the FHSSA bylaws at issue invalid.
Executive director of the NFHS, Karissa Niehoff, says that high school student athletes should not be considered the same as college athletes because of their different eligibility requirements, different access to exposure and training, and their opportunities for scholarships.
"High school students participating in these out-of-school programs MUST NOT be allowed to benefit from NIL. This would completely disrupt the high school environment when these students come into the high school locker room. These two worlds cannot co-exist as the high school environment most likely will be the one that is compromised," Niehoff said.
"The battle for amateurism perhaps has been lost at the college level, but it must be maintained to preserve the greatest programs in this country — education-based interscholastic sports in our nation’s high schools," she added.
A survey conducted by AthleticDirectorU and AthleteViewpoint, asking multiple current NCAA Division I athletics directors whether they supported student athletes profiting from their name, image and likeness or not, resulted in nearly 47% saying no, 44% saying yes.
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