A year ago you probably never heard of Bella Rasmussen. Today, standout high school athletes like her are changing the sports industry as we know it, causing controversy along the way.

While you might have heard Rasmussen’s name if you follow sports business or high school football closely, chances are you were among the 113 million viewers that saw her in a Super Bowl commercial earlier this year.

Courtesy of the NFL

Keyphrase: name, image or likeness

Courtesy of Annette Rasmussen

In October 2022, Rasmussen became the first woman to score two touchdowns in a single high school football game. Her accomplishment won over the attention of high-profile sports legends such as Billie Jean King and her story was featured in Sports Illustrated, ABC7 Eyewitness News and CBS News, among many other publications.

Not only did her standout performance catch the eyes of the NFL — who cast Rasmussen in a Super Bowl commercial alongside a plethora of NFL stars as well as Mexican Women’s Flag National team quarterback Diana Flores — it also put her in a position to become the first female high school football player to sign an NIL deal.

“It's just awesome because I think it's super good for representation of girls in football, something that I wish I had when I was first starting to play football,” Rasmussen said. “So I think it'll be huge for other little girls who are wanting to play the game and not sure if they have the right support.”

In December 2022, the running back/defensive end partnered with KeyWise, a system which tracks user’s online habits and offers precise mental health treatment solutions — specifically through tracking cell phone keyboard interaction.

Why did Rasmussen want to partner with a seemingly-random artificial intelligence app?

“The NIL deal that I signed was for something that I cared about, it wasn’t just with another brand, it wasn’t just to get free product or get money,” Rasmussen said. “It was about something that I genuinely valued in my life and I knew when I got this platform I wanted to do something with it that was going to be impactful for people.”

Signing a sponsorship with KeyWise served as a way for Rasmussen to advocate for mental health support.

“Mental health was so important to me already, so to be able to take this achievement, to take this platform and to take like all the attention that I've been getting and hopefully spread the word of how important mental health is to me and how important it should be to you, that was really important to me,” Rasmussen said. “I feel like I really succeeded with that because obviously the first NIL deal I signed was going to be the biggest headline thus far.”

For Rasmussen, the notoriety that came with her accomplishments on and off the field led to a sense of responsibility where she could use her platform to uplift younger girls who, like her, have a love for a game dominated by boys.

“I don’t think I could really be more honored,” Rasmussen said. “To think that I’m, of all those girls, the person who’s been chosen to represent women in tackle football, that’s a pretty incredible thing … I’m happy to have the platform, happy to be able to share my voice and hopefully speak for other girls.”

Rasmussen’s deal with KeyWise is just one of many examples of a growing national trend: high school athletes across the country are taking advantage of new laws that allow them to profit off of their name, image and likeness.

Currently, 28 states allow high school residents to profit off of their NIL. For many athletes, the new legislation is an opportunity to financially benefit from their hard work while also learning the ins and outs of working in the corporate world full of sponsorships and partnerships.

Some athletes, such as quarterback Arch Manning (nephew of former NFL quarterbacks Eli and Peyton) and LeBron James Jr. (son of NBA star LeBron James) have raked in millions of dollars off of their NIL. But for most high school athletes, the margin is much smaller.

“You are a business as an athlete, whether you want to accept it or not,” said Stephanie Meija, head of NIL outreach at Klutch Sports. “I always tell our clients and our families, there is you the person, there is you the athlete and there is you the student.”

Kollin Claridy, a senior basketball player at the McCallie School in Chattanooga, TN, has understood the importance of building his brand from a young age.

“My parents always told me about my brand, and knowing that if I didn’t have a good brand these companies would not have sought me out. So just knowing that, it helps me keep my brand up knowing that I can’t do certain things out in the public due to [sponsors] being behind me and supporting me,” Claridy said.

Courtesy of Kollin Claridy

Claridy partnered with two local businesses in the Chattanooga area. With Dos Bros, a Mexican restaurant, Claridy posts advertisements on his social media in exchange for gift cards and, eventually, some cash. Giorgio Men's Warehouse gives Claridy two outfits each month, which the basketball star models for the store’s website and for his own social media. Claridy confirmed that Giorgio Men’s Warehouse will be suiting him up for his senior prom.

While Claridy isn’t raking in seven figure checks for his NIL, he says the experience is a good foundation for the next steps in his athletic and academic career.

“Going into college, it’s a big confidence booster knowing that I have some source of income coming in,” Claridy said.

A long timeline of NIL developments have led to a market ripe with opportunity, giving people like Meija a job that three years ago would not have been possible.

“NIL it's something that I actually do believe that [high school and] college athletes should be able to capitalize off of their performance from what they actually bring to a school from a value perspective,” Meija said. “It's a funny world to me and I'm very thankful to be in it because I do believe in it.”

Before June 30, 2021, college athletes, much less high school athletes, were not allowed to be compensated for their NIL — with many athletes paying the price for getting paid.

USC men’s basketball star O.J. Mayo was sidelined for the 2007-08 season for allegedly receiving improper gifts before and during his time in college. Additionally, USC’s 21 wins during that season were vacated.

After it was discovered that sports marketing company New Era Sports and Entertainment had given 2005 Heisman-winner Reggie Bush “improper” benefits, the NCAA vacated Bush’s Heisman and USC’s winning games — with the university receiving a number of sanctions. While the specifics are still unknown, New Era allegedly provided Bush and his family with housing, travel expenses and nearly 300 thousand dollars in cash.

“Basically the NCAA's rules were making an 18 to 22-year old accountable for the actions of family members, so that was really bad,” said Marc Isenberg, a senior wealth strategist specializing in NIL education. “And then just the whole penalty in taking his Heisman away, there's people who have committed serious crimes who have, you know, done their time and now we've brought them back in society. That really is so bothersome of just what it's done to Reggie Bush's name, his brand. And it's just over amateurism.”

That word, “amateurism,” played a large role in the NCAA’s decision to approve an NIL policy. In June 2021, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled in National Collegiate Athletic Association v. Alston et al. that the NCAA could not limit an athlete’s ability to receive educated-related benefits. A group of student athletes, led by former West Virginia running back Shane Alston and former Cal basketball player Justine Hartman, served as plaintiffs in a pivotal victory for athletes’ rights.

“Nowhere else in America can businesses get away with agreeing not to pay their workers a fair market rate on the theory that their product is defined by not paying their workers a fair market rate," said Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh in the Court’s decision, adding that the NCAA was “not above the law.”

Another landmark case in 2014 served as the groundwork for the current state of compensation. Former UCLA basketball player Ed O'Bannon sued the NCAA for violating antitrust laws with their collegiate basketball and football video games — which sported accurate rosters made up of players that looked like their real-life counterparts. The judge sided with O’Bannon, marking a key victory for student athletes.

Even that phrase, “student athletes,” has a loaded history, according to Isenberg.

“The term ‘student athlete’ has been used as an effective get out of jail card by the NCAA everytime the NCAA is sued,” Isenberg said. “I believe in amateurism, it’s Division III. If you are in a school that is generating tens, hundreds of millions of dollars — collectively billions — you lose that opportunity to make that argument in a credible manner.”

The NCAA has drawn criticism over the current NIL agreement, which varies from state to state and limits opportunities for high school and college athletes, forcing them to “hustle for the scraps,” according to Isenberg. In the current arrangement, both high school and college athletes do not receive any of the money that their schools earn, and, in high school, athletes cannot feature their high school in any of their advertisements or social media posts.

A team that took a big step in high school NIL representation was the reigning California Open Division football champions, the Saint John Bosco Braves.

St. John Bosco’s football team signed a teamwide NIL deal with KONGiQ Sports Performance, a product line that allows athletes to track their strength performance in the weight room. While the students only received $400 each, all they had to do was share their experience with the product on social media four times throughout a 12-month period.

Head Coach Jason Negro saw an opportunity to do something no high school program had done before when KONGiQ approached him with their proposal.

“Everybody was pretty excited. It was certainly something that we wanted to do … to be a trailblazer, to be a part of a program that has experienced enough success where some people are coming to us to try to provide our athletes with a little compensation for their name, image and likeness,” Negro said.

With all of the attention college athletic programs had received for flashy NIL deals, Negro was happy to become a part of history.

“This NIL stuff has obviously taken college football and college athletics by storm and we happen to live in a state that allows to have NIL deals [for high school students] … so we said, ‘go ahead,’” Negro said.

The story of NIL in high school and college athletics isn’t over. Alabama Senator and former college football coach Tommy Tuberville is among a group of lawmakers seeking to address what Tuberville called "a mess."

In a letter written to Southeastern Conference commissioner Greg Sankey, Tuberville and West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin wrote that “we are rapidly accelerating down a path that leads away from the traditional values associated with scholastic athletic competition.”

In September 2022, Tuberville told reporters that “the NCAA’s lack of leadership has created an environment where student-athletes can be exploited, and wealthy boosters can be empowered.”

New leadership could lead to a more unified NCAA, which would inevitably trickle down to the high school level, albeit at more limited capacities. Former Massachusetts governor Charlie Baker was named the new NCAA president March 1, taking control of the billion-dollar organization in perhaps one of the most tumultuous eras in its history.

Baker, who exited his position as governor with positive approval ratings, already has ideas for NIL regulation — but must wait on the federal government to enact some of his proposed changes.

"There ought to be some type of financial literacy program made available for families,” Baker said in an interview with The Dallas Morning News. “There should be a registration process for [NIL] agents like there is other agents, and there should be a uniform standard contract. Some of the stories I hear about kids who signed things that were told something and X turned out to be Y.”

Baker hopes that the federal government will act fast, but with many aspects of athlete’s rights to consider, such as their health and safety, their right to organize and gender-equity problems, it could be a while before Congress passes legislation.

While the NCAA and federal government work to figure out a system that all parties can agree upon, high school and college athletes will continue to hustle for the scraps.