COLUMBUS, Ohio — An Ohio House of Representatives bill that would prohibit a student who is participating in Ohio High School Athletic Association middle or high school interscholastic athletics from earning compensation from the student’s name, image or likeness (NIL) is planned to be reintroduced in January 2027.
State Rep. Adam Bird (R-New Richmond) told WCPO 9 Sports on Tuesday morning that House Bill 661, introduced in early February by Bird and Mike Odioso (R-Green Township), is a few votes short of proceeding.
While it is still under consideration until the end of this December, the bill will likely be reintroduced in January.
“I think I have made a thoughtful, experienced case among my colleagues and Ohioans for why Ohio should preserve amateur athletics,” Bird told WCPO 9 Sports in a text message Tuesday morning. “Unfortunately, I have not been able to convince enough of my colleagues of the value of amateur athletics as preparation for becoming a productive adult. They conflate the issues of social media influencing, right to employment and an athletic opportunity paid for by the taxpayer. I am not many votes short, so I will try again when we have a new general assembly in January.”
Ohio high school student-athletes have officially been permitted to profit from NIL after the OHSAA announced in late November that an emergency bylaw referendum passed convincingly by its 815-member high schools. Ohio became the 45th state to allow NIL at the high school level.
The voting period ended the afternoon of Nov. 21, with the final voting results being 447 schools in favor of the referendum and 121 schools voting against, while 247 schools abstained from voting.
The results of the emergency referendum vote resulted in a fundamental change to an amateur bylaw, which has been a tenet of the state's high school sports since the OHSAA was founded in November 1907.
In May, OHSAA Executive Director Doug Ute told WCPO 9 Sports that 45 student-athletes in Ohio, or less than 1% around the state, have NIL deals. There are an estimated 350,000 OHSAA student-athletes in the state.
Ute testified in front of the Ohio House of Representatives Education Committee as an interested party in late February.
“No one in Ohio wants to see interscholastic athletics evolve into a collegiate-style pay-to-play model,” Ute said in February. “We believe the current regulations strike an appropriate balance of protecting student-athletes while preserving the integrity of high school sports."
Several other individuals testified this past winter, including St. Xavier football coach Steve Specht and Lakota East coach Jon Kitna, a former longtime NFL quarterback.
Specht testified with proponent testimony in front of the committee in February and Kitna submitted written proponent testimony for an early March meeting.
OHSAA student-athletes can enter into agreements and be compensated for their name, image and likeness through appearances, licensing, social media, endorsements and/or the use of branding based on their public recognition or notoriety.
The bylaw also establishes reporting procedures and limitations so that students do not jeopardize their eligibility as it relates to the OHSAA’s recruiting and amateur bylaws.
"We have seen the damage NIL has created at the college level and have not learned from it," Bird told WCPO 9 Sports in a text message Tuesday. "OHSAA is no longer a body that oversees amateur athletics."
House Bill 661 is one of two bills connected to NIL currently in the Ohio House. The other, House Bill 745, would create guardrails for high school athletes who want to make money from NIL deals.
Ohio has the third-largest participation rate in high school sports nationally behind Texas and California, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations.
