Getty Images file photo.
Ohio Republicans want to ban high school and middle school athletes from making name, image, or likeness deals.
State Reps. Adam Miller, R-New Richmond, and Mike Odioso, R-Green Twp., recently introduced Ohio House Bill 661.
“The purpose in Ohio high school sports should be about a learning experience that is an extension of the classroom,” Bird said at a press conference last week.
“We don’t spend public taxpayer money on stadiums and on weight rooms and on gymnasiums in order for them to be able to earn employment and earn an income.”
Ohio is one of 45 states that allows high school athletes to have NIL deals.
“It is important to note that NIL at the high school level in Ohio is very different than what we see at the college level,” Tim Stried, Ohio High School Athletic Association spokesperson, said in an email.
The association said they are aware of the legislation.
Osioso, a former teacher and football coach for St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati, said that things would eventually lead to an underground transfer portal.
“We’re talking about seventh graders,” Odioso said. “We’re talking about eighth graders. We’re talking about freshmen. … They are emotionally and psychologically unprepared for this. They’re not going to be able to handle it.”
Recruiting students to transfer schools is already happening in Ohio, Bird said during an Ohio House Education Committee meeting last week.
“This NIL change will undoubtedly make it way worse,” he said. “Wealthy alumni will be the recruiting agent for their alma mater and will use the lure of NIL payments to direct students to transfer to a certain school. … This is about protecting our children from what I would believe are some predators out there that would like to take advantage of that child’s athletic ability.”
A Franklin County judge issued a temporary restraining order preventing the Ohio High School Athletic Association 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.
In November, high school athletic association member schools passed an emergency referendum allowing NIL. On that referendum, 447 schools voted in favor of athletes receiving NIL deals, 121 schools voted against it, and 247 schools abstained.
“We should not be making decisions in the state of Ohio based on one judge in one county, and the state legislature should weigh in on decisions that they support with tax dollar revenue,” Bird said.
He clarified that the legislation is not trying to keep a student from earning money.
Rather, he said, the bill is about protecting the amateur status of a middle or high school student.
“If a student in Ohio is so talented that they can be gainfully employed by the use of their athletic talents, then they should leave their high school team and join a professional tour, professional league, or obtain a NCAA NIL deal where they might be able to make a financial profit from their talent,” Bird said.
State Rep. Sean Brennan, D-Parma, questioned how paying high school athletes is different from a high school student earning money on the weekends playing music.
“Who are we as a legislature to be able to tell young people how they’re allowed to monetize their skills on their own time?” he asked during the House Education Committee meeting. “… This is outside of the school day as well. They can’t do it during the school day.”
But Odioso pushed back against his argument.
“Are guitar players being recruited to go to different schools?” he asked. “… I think that’s the biggest difference I can think of.”
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