Committee approves bill to bar NIL-style pay for sanctioned Wyoming high school athletes

The House Education Committee advanced Senate File 53, a bill aimed at preserving amateurism in high school sports by prohibiting direct payments tied to participation in sanctioned activities. Senator Crumb introduced the measure, framing it as a way to prevent recruiting incentives and maintain fair competition among schools.

Senator Crumb said the bill would prohibit athletes from receiving pay for participating in a sanctioned high school sport while allowing typical reimbursements and benefits the association already permits — travel, lodging, food, uniforms and reimbursement for instruction or camps. "If we try to take that original premise and bring it to high school athletics ... I don't think that's probably a true statement," he said, arguing NIL-style payments have disrupted college sports and should not be allowed at the high school level.

Committee members asked whether payments from private schools, reimbursement for travel, or income from social-media activity would be affected. Senator Crumb and staff answered that reimbursements and payment for instruction or camps would remain allowable, but a direct payment from a third party tied to participation in a sanctioned high school sport would be prohibited. He explained that off-campus earnings (for example, part-time work or independent social-media income) would still be permitted unless the payment was directly connected to the high-school activity.

Supporters included Boyd Brown, executive director of the Wyoming Association of School Administrators, and Brian Farmer of the Wyoming School Boards Association, who said the bill provides clarity for the Wyoming High School Activities Association and helps prevent inappropriate recruitment or payments tied to participation.

A motion to advance the bill was approved on a roll-call vote the clerk recorded as seven affirmative votes, one no and one excused; the committee declared Senate File 53 passed and adjourned. The bill will proceed to the next legislative step.

The committee record shows the measure was discussed with an eye toward leaving enforcement and fine-grained standards to the activities association rather than creating new statutory exceptions for non‑association competitions such as high-school rodeo.