The first door has already swung open.
Starting with the 2026–27 school year, New Mexico high school athletes will be able to make one transfer and become immediately eligible. The referendum passed 67–60, with safeguards still in place for recruiting, undue influence, home-school rules, and charter-school rules.
NMAA Executive Director Dusty Young said the change gives families more flexibility while maintaining protections for competitive balance. He also noted the transfer rule has been one of the most debated topics among member schools in recent years.
Reasonable enough. But it also feels like a warning shot.
NIL is not here yet — but the runway is built
Name, image and likeness money has not taken over New Mexico high school sports. Not yet. But the NMAA handbook already allows athletes to profit on their own, as long as the deal does not involve a school, team or NMAA marks. No uniforms. No logos. No endorsements tied to an NMAA event.
Young put it plainly: the NMAA is not going to stop a player from using social media to make money off his or her own name, image and likeness — as long as it stays separate from school affiliation.
Look around the country. A 2026 NILParent tracker lists 48 states and Washington, D.C., as allowing some form of high school NIL. Only Hawaii and Mississippi prohibit it. Michigan is listed as limited. And while no national clearinghouse tracks high school NIL deals, Opendorse reports more than 200,000 athlete users and more than $250 million in compensation across college, commercial and collective markets.
The money is real. The movement is real. And once families see athletes in other states making deals, New Mexico will not stay untouched forever.
The game is changing
We can keep saying kids play for the love of the game. Many still do. But the moment a social media post, a local business deal or a transfer opportunity enters the picture, love of the game has company — and it has a dollar sign standing next to it.
Artesia football coach Jeremy Maupin didn’t sugarcoat it.
“Worst thing that has happened to college sports,” Maupin said. “It is even worse if it happens at the high school level. Horrible idea.”
New Mexico needs to be ready
Small-town athletics are built on school pride, community loyalty, and kids growing up together. NIL doesn’t automatically destroy that. But if New Mexico waits until the first messy case lands in its lap, it will already be behind.
The NMAA didn’t create NIL. It didn’t invite agents into high school gyms or turn Friday nights into a marketplace. But by loosening the transfer rule, it reminded everyone that high school sports are no longer sealed off from the bigger business of athletics.
The gate is open. NIL may not be standing in New Mexico’s end zone today.
But it is coming down the sideline.
