CLEVELAND, Ohio – Ohio has officially stepped into the era of Name, Image, and Likeness, allowing high school athletes across the state to make money from the use of their personal brand.
On Monday, OHSAA member schools approved new bylaws that allow high school athletes to be paid for their name, image and likeness (NIL) and build their personal brands.
Ohio is the 45th state to approve NIL.
While the new bylaws allow high school athletes to get paid from their NIL, they specifically prohibit athletes from being paid to play.
To think of this policy in simpler terms, the OHSAA treats a student-athlete’s sports career like a house built on two separate foundations:
- The School Foundation, which includes team activities, uniforms, logos, performance and recruiting;
- and the Personal Foundation, which includes a player’s individual social media, appearances, endorsements and merchandise.
The new OHSAA rules state that high school athletes can only be paid based on the Personal Foundation, and cannot cross over or reinforce the School Foundation.
If an endorsement deal starts paying for touchdowns (performance) or uses the school mascot (logo), the foundations have mixed, and the athlete’s OHSAA eligibility could be compromised.
As Ohio high school athletes and their parents try to navigate this new landscape, here is a look at some of the do’s and don’ts of the new bylaws, based on information from the OHSAA’s NIL informational materials.
THE DO’s
Make sure to disclose and document NIL agreements
Students and their families are responsible for reporting any NIL agreements to the OHSAA. This disclosure must be made within 14 days of entering into the agreement.
Along with submitting the agreement through the Personal Branding Rights Parent Portal, the student and family must submit an affidavit attesting that they understand the requirements of the NIL bylaws.
Keep NIL separate from school activities
Your child can engage in NIL activities that are completely unrelated to their school team, the school itself, or the OHSAA.
The student may create personal social media accounts or websites specifically to promote their personal brand and can endorse legal products or services that are not prohibited by OHSAA rules.
And when appearing in an NIL endorsement, the student must wear non-school-affiliated clothing or gear.
Keep the focus on personal branding, not sports performance
A student can be paid for NIL, but the money must be unrelated to their performance or achievements on the field of play.
For example, they can partner with a company to sell their own branded merchandise.
They are also allowed to participate in camps and clinics as a paid instructor or participant.
If your student wishes to use platforms or NIL marketplaces, such as Opendorse, to secure deals, they can do so, but the student and family must sign up for these platforms themselves.
Seek help from your school
While schools are prohibited from helping students or families line up NIL agreements, they are encouraged to provide educational resources.
Schools are allowed to help families with NIL-related issues such as financial planning, tax ramifications, college eligibility standards, and contract concerns.
THE DON’TS
Don’t involve your school in the NIL agreement
The student is not allowed to use the name, logos, mascots, or trademarks of their school or the OHSAA as part of their NIL contract.
Also, the NIL agreement itself cannot be provided by the member school or an agent of the school, which includes coaches, boosters, foundations, or collectives.
A collective is defined as a group that pools donations and/or fund raising efforts to create NIL opportunities for high school students. That is not allowed under the new bylaws.
If a business or community member wants to enter an NIL agreement, it must be directly between that business entity and the student-athlete.
Don’t use NIL deals to recruit or provide team benefits
The new rules don’t allow students to engage in an NIL agreement that is intended to induce them to enroll at a particular school.
Also, students can’t accept an NIL deal that benefits their school or school team.
And the NIL deal can’t provide money, merchandise or services of value directly to the student’s school or team.
Don’t advertise or promote during school activities
Students can’t engage in any personal branding activities during school hours, while traveling to or from an OHSAA event, or during any official team activities.
This means students can’t display a sponsor’s product or advertise for a sponsor during official team activities.
For instance, if players have an NIL deal with a local restaurant, they can’t wear shirts promoting the restaurant during pregame warmups.
Students can wear equipment or clothing provided in an NIL deal if those items are necessary for participation (like shoes, bats, or helmets).
But they can’t outwardly promote the items during team activities.
They also cannot skip academic classes or athletic team obligations for NIL activities.
Don’t partner with prohibited groups or take money for performance
Students must avoid NIL deals with prohibited industries, including gambling, alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, illegal substances, adult entertainment or firearms.
And students may not receive money that is based on how they play. This is known as pay-for-play, which is banned.
Finally, while a student’s personal social media might contain school logos, the specific NIL advertisements cannot feature school or OHSAA logos, trademarks or mascots.
