Tennessee Football Coaches Association Partners with Eccker Sports to Make NIL Educational Services Available to All High Schools Throughout the State

NASHVILLE, TN (April 18, 2022) – The Tennessee Football Coaches Association (TnFCA) has announced today that it has partnered with Eccker Sports, an information company with more than 60 years of experience in the sports industry, to provide educational services and resources to help all high school coaches, administrators, student-athletes and their families navigate the challenges that Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) contracts are bringing to high school sports.

NIL, perhaps the most disruptive concept in the sports market in the last 40 years, has quickly thrown high school athletics into unfamiliar and uncomfortable territory. It is why Joe Briggs, counsel for the NFL Players Association, recently told the Virginia House of Delegates that high school students shouldn’t sign NIL deals because of the void in education and resources available to student-athletes and their families. The TnFCA has taken a proactive step to help solve the problem.

“NIL has begun changing the college sports landscape over the last year and we are starting to see it change and create shifts in the high school game as well,” TnFCA President Matthew Bates said. “We must get ahead of this as coaches and become educated and stay on top of NIL for our student-athletes. Eccker Sports is the leader in NIL education and we are excited to team up with them to assist our coaches.”

The fragmentation in high school sports across the country adds layers of complexity to an already challenging NIL environment. For example, there are currently eight states that have laws permitting athletes to profit off their name, image, and likeness, 16 states are considering adopting new laws, while 26 states prohibit it altogether. Add in all the different school bylaws for high school and college eligibility and you have a situation prone for mistakes.

“With the commitment to NIL from the collegiate level around the SEC states, it is really important that coaches and administrators get educated on the topic so that they are in the best position to help the student-athletes and lead everyone in their community,” Eccker Sports co-founder and CCO Tim Prukop said. “This is not the end, it’s just the beginning. Our team wakes up every day living and breathing NIL, so as things change from state to state, our courses and resources are always up to date. We are proud to partner with the Tennessee Football Coaches Association and are looking forward to helping all coaches throughout the state develop the most successful NIL strategies for their student-athletes.”

Each school can register at ecckersports.com for an annual license that provides access to all of its administrators and coaches from every sport. The comprehensive service starts with a video curriculum of six module courses online that will educate users on the history of NIL, key terms and concepts, and best practices. The first course becomes available May 1, with others rolling out shortly thereafter.

Additionally, the Eccker Sports resource hub has the most detailed library of NIL information for the high school market, including articles, state laws, abstracts, summaries, bylaws, interpretations, as well as college and universities policies and procedures. Coach Assist offers high school coaches NIL presentation templates, one pagers and other tools to help them educate their communities. Finally, the company is building a network of legal, financial and tax experts to help families build and execute an effective NIL strategy.

About TnFCA
The Tennessee Football Coaches Association strives to maintain the highest possible standards for the game of football and the profession of coaching. In addition to promoting the game in the great state of Tennessee, the TnFCA works closely with coaches on studies pertaining to the game and provides a forum for professional discussion, development and the advancement of player safety. Football, the greatest game on earth, has impacted an imaginable number of lives and the TnFCA is focused on making its contribution to protecting that legacy.

About Eccker Sports
Eccker Sports is an information platform serving student-athletes, coaches, parents, and administrators navigating the disruption of NIL contracts coming to high school sports. They bring 60-plus years of experience mainstreaming new innovations in sports to help high schools guide, inform and protect their student-athletes on their NIL journeys. Their goal is to help schools create successful programs for their students rather than to represent any individual student in the NIL marketplace.