Jun 10, 2025Sports medicine professionals speak out on potential risks of NIL
The advent of name, image, and likeness (NIL) compensation for amateur athletes has created a new, unknown path for student-athletes, coaches, and administrators. But the same can be said for the sports medicine professionals caring for these student-athletes who potentially have millions on the line.
Some sports medicine professionals have spoken out about the rapid changes and growth of NIL, creating a potential risk.
A recent story from Healio.com detailed reactions from sports medicine professionals operating in this new NIL era. Below is an excerpt from the Healio.com article.
“If done the right way, NIL can be very good,” Eric McCarty, MD, chief of sports medicine and shoulder surgery at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and head team physician at the University of Colorado, told Healio. “But right now, it is out of hand and continues to take turns and courses that put a lot of entities and people in an uncomfortable position.”
When treating an athlete with NIL opportunities, Robin V. West, MD, president of the Inova MSK Service Line and team physician for the Washington Nationals, said there are new considerations for both the athlete and the physician.
“As a surgeon, the shift is that these athletes are viewing their bodies from more than just the medical or injured aspect but looking at them as business assets,” West, a Healio | Orthopedics Today Editorial Board Member, said.
Because of that shift, Brian D. Anderson, JD, partner and global head of the sports industry team at the international law firm Sheppard Mullin, said physicians need to recognize that high school or collegiate athletes with NIL opportunities should be treated like professional athletes.
“It does not change the underlying diagnosis and medical advice, but it is more about appreciating the stakes and the pressures that are involved,” Anderson told Healio.
The addition of high school athletics to the NIL landscape poses its own set of unique challenges, according to West.
“This is a different kind of liability because now they have these high school athletes who potentially could earn $8 million a year,” West told Healio. “But if they tear their ACL in their senior year and you reconstruct it and they do not get back to play, then all of a sudden, are you then bound to that $8 million a year that he potentially could have made?”
To read the full story from Healio.com about sports medicine professionals sharing their concerns about the NIL landscape, click here.
