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Ohio lawmakers have different ideas on name, image and likeness deals for high school athletes
A high school football team. (File photo from Getty Images.)
The Ohio House has two opposing Republican bills dealing with name, image, and likeness deals at the high school level.
Ohio House Bill 661 would ban high school and middle school athletes from making NIL deals while Ohio House Bill 745would create guardrails for high school athletes to earn compensation from NIL deals.
Ohio is one of 45 states that allows high school athletes to have NIL deals.
“If someone’s able to make money off their athletic talent, I think they should be able to do so,” said state Rep. Tex Fischer, R-Boardman.
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He recently introduced Ohio H.B. 745 with state Rep. Phil Plummer, R-Dayton.
Their bill would allow a high school athlete to earn compensation from NIL if they enter into a written contract that aligns with the fair market value. The contract would also require the written consent of a student-athlete’s parent if they are younger than 18.
The bill has not had any hearings yet and the Ohio House will reconvene in May.
H.B. 745 outlines several situations that would not be allowed in a NIL contract including:
- Compensation based on the student-athlete’s specific athletic performance or achievement.
- Persuading a student-athlete to attend a certain high school.
- It directly impacts someone other than the student-athlete.
- It provides money, merchandise, services of value, or any other benefit directly to the student-athlete’s high school or school sports team.
- It interferes with a student-athlete’s required academic instruction time.
- It conflicts with the educational mission or code of conduct of the student-athlete’s high school.
- Anyone affiliated to the school is a party to the contract.
- The student-athlete would not promote alcohol, tobacco or nicotine products, marijuana, a controlled substance, gambling, adult entertainment, or a firearm.
Of the 350,000 Ohio High School Athletic Association student-athletes, only 32 NIL deals have been reported. Many of those deals are for less than $1,000, according to the OHSAA.
“For the vast majority of cases here, we’re not talking about a significant amount of money,” Fischer said. “We’re talking about a kid who gets $150 for having a donut named after him at the donut shop. … Or the football team goes down and takes a group photo to be on the pizza shop flyer and they get free pizza.”
Ohio House Bill 661
Ohio House Bill 661 would ban high school and middle school athletes from making NIL deals. State Reps. Adam Bird, R-New Richmond, and Mike Odioso, R-Green Twp., introduced the bill at the end of January and it has had six hearings in the Ohio House Education Committee.
Supporters of the bill said it would give Ohio the chance to come up with the proper guardrails for NIL at the middle and high school levels.
“Rather than reacting to momentum, our state can thoughtfully shape a model that protects student-athletes, preserves educational priorities, and sets a responsible example nationally,” Mason City Schools Superintendent Jonathan Cooper said in his testimony.
Opponents argue NIL at the high school level is not like NIL at the college level and that other high school students can earn money by working a part-time job.
“If you have somebody in the band, the band person can make money on the side,” said Eugene Miller, former state rep. who is running as a Democratic candidate for Ohio House District 20. “Why should we punish athletes based on their likability by eliminating NIL opportunities?”
Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman, R-Lima, said NIL is a problem.
“I don’t think we should have it (at the high school levels), but I don’t know what the boundaries should be,” he recently told reporters.
Ohio High School Athletic Association
A Franklin County judge issued a temporary restraining order preventing the OHSAA from enforcing its ban against high school athletes benefiting from NIL in October.
Jasmine Brown had filed the lawsuit on behalf of her son Jamier Brown, an Ohio State Buckeyes football commit from the Dayton area.
He is a top-ranked wide receiver from Wayne High School in Huber Heights who is transferring to Big Walnut High School in Sunbury for his senior year.
Brown, a member of the class of 2027, has missed out on more than $100,000 in potential deals, according to the lawsuit.
High school athletic association member schools passed an emergency referendum allowing NIL in November. In that referendum, 447 schools voted in favor of athletes receiving NIL deals, 121 schools voted against it, and 247 schools abstained.
Fischer was initially working on a bill that would allow NIL deals at the high school level before the Brown lawsuit.
“I wanted to make sure that my colleagues and other legislators can see that this is not an all or nothing approach,” he said. “You don’t have to choose between the Wild West that I don’t think anybody’s comfortable with or a complete shutdown of these potential contracts.”
Huffman wished the OHSAA had been clearer in their ruling.
“We can put our restrictions on it,” he said. “We can do all of those kinds of things, but I think that this is a very difficult question. … I don’t think it’s an easy thing to resolve.”
The OHSAA said the organization is aware of both bills, but did not provide further comment.
Follow Ohio Capital Journal Reporter Megan Henry on X or on Bluesky.
