COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — The Ohio High School Athletic Association unveiled a proposal Thursday that would allow high school student-athletes to receive money for their name, image, and likeness.
The OHSAA held an emergency meeting after a judge granted a temporary restraining order allowing student-athletes to temporarily accept NIL deals without losing their amateur status.
The lawsuit against the OHSAA was brought by Huber Heights Wayne football standout Jamier Brown and his mother, Jasmine. Brown is among the top-rated players in the nation for the class of 2027 and is already committed to Ohio State. His attorney said Brown could be receiving significant financial benefit from NIL, but accepting those deals in Ohio is currently against OHSAA rules and would therefore make him ineligible to play.
The bylaws would prohibit student-athletes from accepting deals that are intended to induce a student to attend a specific school. Schools may also not arrange deals on behalf of student-athletes.
When reaching an agreement, student-athletes would have 14 days to notify OHSAA of the deal or they would become ineligible for a period of up to 20% of the season.
The OHSAA said it has been patient in monitoring NIL across the country, and also as it has taken hold in major college athletics.
“At the Division I level, things like collectives where universities pay athletes directly, we’ve seen that that’s been a pitfall,” Tim Stried, director of communications for OHSAA, previously told NBC4. “Their recruiting based on NIL, that’s something we don’t want to see at the high school level. The transfer portal is a huge part of college athletics now and obviously we don’t want that, any shape of that, at the high school level. So those are some of the things we’ve seen at the college level that has made us really reluctant to put this up in Ohio for high schools. The courts have always ruled in favor of the student athletes. We’ve seen that over and over again. That’s what we’re dealing with right now. So our bylaw is going to shape a lot of that language that we think will have some controls on it.”
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