Ohio will no longer be in the minority of states that don’t allow high school student athletes to profit from their name, image and likeness moving forward.
The member schools of the Ohio High School Athletic Association voted overwhelmingly in an emergency referendum to change the state’s rules, effective immediately.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThis comes after a judge temporarily blocked the rules in October. The referendum result comes with regulations about the kinds of deals athletes can make.
OHSAA member schools voted 447 in favor, 121 against and 247 schools abstained from voting, which was open Nov. 17 to Nov 21.
Wayne wide receiver Jamier Brown attends the Ohio State football game against Penn State at Ohio Stadium on Nov. 1, 2025.“We would like to thank our member schools for taking ownership of this NIL bylaw proposal,” OHSAA Executive Director Doug Ute said in a press release. “Whether our schools or individuals agree with NIL at the high school level or not, the courts have spoken on this issue across the country that the NCAA and high school athletic associations cannot prevent a student-athlete from making money on their NIL.”
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe rule change comes after the family of an elite high school athlete filed a lawsuit against OHSAA about the rules. Jasmine Brown filed a lawsuit in Franklin County Common Pleas Court on behalf of her son, Jamier, an OSU recruit who’s one of the top wide receivers in the country.
Brown had lost out on over $100,000 in potential deals because of the restrictions in Ohio, according to the lawsuit.
Judge Jaiza Page issued a temporary restraining order Oct. 20 that nullified OHSAA’s prohibition until a preliminary injunction hearing that was set for Dec. 15.
OHSAA had already been planning to ask member schools to reconsider NIL restrictions after a similar measure failed in 2022, but because of the legal action, they could take a vote in the middle of the school year.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementIf the measure didn’t pass, the future of OHSAA’s rules would have been in the hands of the court. OHSAA officials had said that voting on this now gives the organization an opportunity to set guardrails.
The regulations include that student athletes can’t make deals that are associated with “inappropriate” products or services, including gambling and substances, and that the deals cannot be part of a recruitment scheme or based on performance.
“Now the real work begins, because this will be a continually evolving piece of high school athletics,” Ute said. “The OHSAA will track NIL deals and make sure that our recruiting bylaws and transfer bylaws are still enforced, which is something our member schools have asked for throughout this process.”
Anna Lynn Winfrey covers the northwestern suburbs for the Columbus Dispatch. She can be reached at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: OHSAA votes to allow high school athletes to make NIL deals
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