Ohio high schools make decision on NIL opportunities for athletes

Ohio high schools this week passed on the opportunity to be the 10th state in the country to allow high school athletes to take advantage of name, image and likeness.

The NIL issue, now common on the college level, has trickled down to the high school level, but after a vote, Ohio rejected the proposal, according to The Columbus Dispatch.

The member schools of the Ohio High School Athletic Association voted on an NIL regulation as part of their annual referendum voting process from May 1-16, and Tuesday morning the OHSAA announced that the NIL measure did not pass.

A simple majority of the 817 schools — 409 yes votes — was required to pass the referendum item, and only 254 schools voted in favor of the NIL item. It was rejected by 538 schools.

While Ohio appeared to be at the forefront of this issue, the consensus was that it’s still too early in the process.

Alaska, Colorado, California, Kansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York and Utah allow their high school athletes to make money from their NIL without compromising their amateur status.

The main feedback OHSAA executive director Doug Ute received from the member schools since introducing the NIL referendum item was that they felt Ohio was moving more quickly than necessary on what’s still an emerging issue at the high school level, the Dispatch reported.

Keith Farner

Keith Farner has written about college football for newspapers and web sites since 2005.