NIL passes for high school athletes in Ohio

High school and college athletes around the country now have the unique opportunity to make money from their name, image and likeness. After an emergency vote by the Ohio High School Athletic Association, Ohio just became the 45th state to allow high school students to make NIL money. 

On October 15, Jamier Brown, the nation’s top wide receiver recruit in the class of 2027, filed a lawsuit urging the  OHSAA to change the rule prohibiting high school athletes from making NIL money. In the lawsuit, Brown’s mother claims that her son had opportunities to make up to seven figures in NIL money. 

Ohio has voted on NIL money for high school athletes before in 2022. Schools voted overwhelmingly in favor of keeping the ban on NIL money in high school sports in place. The recent emergency vote included one vote from each of the 815 high schools in the OHSAA. On November 24,  the ban was lifted with high schools voting 447-121 in favor of NIL. 247 schools abstained.

Pennsylvania has allowed high school athletes to make NIL money since 2022. Anthony Pegues, the head football coach at Farrell High School, said he is a big supporter of NIL deals. “I think it’s a great thing for these young guys,” Pegues said. “They get a little bit of money in their pockets to advertise things and to do certain things. It’s a little slow here in Pennsylvania, but I think it’s been a great thing.” 

Pete Kahler, the athletic director at St. Edwards High School in Lakewood, Ohio, said he does not think NIL will change the landscape of high school sports. “We’ve been preparing for this day for a long time,” Kahler said. “I have talked to fellow athletic directors in states where NIL is legal, and in a nutshell, there are only really one or two kids who make a crazy amount of money.”

Kahler is referring to  athletes like Brown, who is one of the projected 30 to 40 5-star football players in the entire country. “They have built their own brand that major brands want to get behind,” Kahler said. “We have a rich football history at Eds, but we have never had a five star recruit.”

One of the biggest concerns regarding NIL in Ohio is how it could affect recruiting for high school programs around the state. Kahler believes it won’t have any effect on a school’s ability to recruit talent. “When you break it down, you realize you’re not paying them to come to schools, and there is no tie to recruitment,” Kahler said. “It’s strictly brands that want to pay people to endorse them.” 

According to the OHSAA, student athletes are still prohibited from earning money to play the sport in which they compete as amateurs, but they may receive awards or gifted money as long as the total amount does not exceed $500.

Despite the lack of recruiting concerns from Kahler, smaller programs around Ohio are very concerned, Jack Damato, the head football coach at Crestwood High School, believes this will devastate smaller programs. He also said it is already hard to compete as a small school, and NIL would make it even more difficult to compete. “Lower division schools would absolutely suffer,” Damato said. “They don’t have the same resources, visibility or sponsor appeal as larger programs.” Damato also expressed his concern about being able to maintain programs as a lower division football team. “It is going to be even harder for smaller schools to compete, retain athletes and keep programs sustainable,” Damato said. “High school sports should be about opportunity for all kids, not just the ones in the biggest markets or flashiest zip codes.” 

According to Kahler, the rule change prohibits players from wearing any gear from the high school where they play sports.”You can’t wear your school marks,” Kahler explained. “If you play at Eds, no oval E, there’s no St. Edward in any kind of commercial that’s shot, nothing. Just the kid and the brand they’re endorsing.” 

Although players are prohibited from wearing the school’s gear, Damato believes there will still be problems that come from these deals. “It creates an environment where athletes are incentivized to chase deals instead of committing to a program,” Damato said. “High school sports are supposed to be about development, playing the game with the people you grew up with and pride in your community… not branding wars and bidding contests.”

Players have varying opinions about NIL. Kingston Powell, a football player at Cardinal Mooney in Youngstown, said he thinks it could be a distraction for some players. “I feel like it could be good for some people that don’t have a lot of money, but I think it will lead to a lot of cockiness in most cases,” Powell said. 

His teammate, John Brenner, also has mixed feelings. “I think it could be great, especially for those who are not as blessed to have a nice place to go home to,” Brenner said. “But you also have bigger schools that I think will be able to bring in some good guys with some serious money. It will be tougher for schools like ours to try and match that so we can hang with them.”

NIL deals have been allowed at the collegiate level for several years. The NCAA adopted its first NIL rule change in July, 2021. Shortly after, California became the first state in the country to allow NIL deals for high school athletes. Since then, access to NIL deals has greatly increased, and a vast majority of intercollegiate and high school athletes alike have the ability to make money based on their platform they built as an athlete, rather than their hours in the workforce. 

The NIL policy rules are still being worked out in Ohio, but it seems as though many opportunities for athletes will be on the way. Athletic Directors like Kahler see this change as something that was bound to happen “I learned at a young age that anytime you try to fight change in business, you’re going to lose 90% of the time,” he said. “And this is very much a business decision, because the amount of media revenue that goes on at the college level really impacted this to begin with, and now it’s trickling down. The media level at the high school level is nowhere near, not even close to what is in college. But if a kid can make a couple 100 bucks by making some social media posts or by shooting a commercial for a local pizza place, God bless I’m all for it.”