Endorsement deals for high school athletes? OHSAA schools considering NIL proposal

COLUMBUS — High school athletes in Ohio could be next in line to benefit from their own name, image, and likeness, if a proposed Ohio High School Athletic Association bylaw change is approved.

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Member schools will vote during OHSAA’s annual annual referendum voting period with one of the proposed constitutional bylaw changes including a change to name, image, and likeness uses that would mirror changes made at the collegiate level over the last year.

“Our proposal that schools will vote on is very similar to what is already going on at the college level. And it’s just a matter of time until that does trickle down to the high school level,” Tim Stried, OHSAA Director of Media Relations told News Center 7′s John Bedell.

“The reason why we put this on the referendum ballot for this year is because this train is coming down the tracks at high school athletics across the country. There are a number of states that already allow NIL deals at the high school level. This is coming at some point. And basically this allows our schools to shape it, rather than a court or a legislator, for example,” Stried said.

The proposed bylaw change would allow student-athletes to sign endorsement agreements as long as their teams, schools, and/or OHSAA logo are not used. Additionally, endorsements can’t be with companies that don’t support OHSAA’s mission of education-based athletics such as casinos, gambling, alcohol, drugs and tobacco.

“It is definitely a huge shift in what has always been the amateur bylaw,” Stried said.

Eight other high school athletic associations across the country have already approved or permit certain forms of NIL within their regulations, according to Opendorse, a Nebraska-based NIL company that provides technology to the athlete endorsement industry.

The NCAA adopted a name, image and likeness policy in July 2021 for all incoming and current student-athletes in all sports.

The OHSAA referendum issue will be presented during six upcoming meetings in April starting Wednesday in Athens. The 817 member high schools will vote electronically on the NIL proposal and 13 other proposals between May 1 and 16. If the NIL, or other bylaw change is approve it would go into effect Aug. 1.

A simple majority is only needed to pass a bylaw change.

We’ll update this story as we learn more.

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