COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio High School Athletic Association could soon vote on an emergency referendum to allow student-athletes compensation for their name, image and likeness.
The potential referendum comes on the heels of a lawsuit filed Wednesday in a Franklin County court that features Huber Heights Wayne junior Jamier Brown, an Ohio State commit in the Buckeyes’ 2027 recruiting class.
The suit, according to ESPN, claims: “OHSAA’s blanket ban not only singles out Ohio’s high school student athletes for unequal treatment, but it also unlawfully suppresses their economic liberties, freedom of expression, and restrains competition in the NIL marketplace.”
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Brown has been committed to Ohio State since November 2024 and is scheduled to visit Notre Dame this weekend. He is the No. 6 overall prospect and top receiver in 247Sports’ composite rankings for the 2027 recruiting class. He also is Ohio’s top-ranked junior.
OHSAA media director of media Tim Stried confirmed Wednesday afternoon it could present member schools in Ohio with an emergency referendum vote within the next month, as a result of Brown’s suit.
“Typically, when a legal proceeding like this takes place, it triggers an emergency referendum vote,” Stried said. “If it does, then that vote would most likely be here very quickly.”
The OHSAA last put an NIL vote up for schools in 2022. It was voted down by school administrators by a count of 538 to 254.
Stried said Wednesday the OHSAA has an updated NIL proposal ready to go. The state’s governing body for high school sports planned to propose it again in May, when it annual proposals referendums to its bylaws.
“Our board of directors had already approved language that was going to go to our member schools,” Stried said, “so we were preparing for that. Then, this lawsuit happened.”
Many of Ohio’s bordering states are adopting NIL. If the OHSAA were to pass it, Ohio would join 44 states and the District of Columbia that have it in some form. Alabama, Hawaii, Indiana, Michigan and Wyoming are still without any form of NIL.
Stried added that the OHSAA has looked at how other states have adopted NIL to amend its newest proposal. The goal, he said, is to keep control over NIL with the schools as it has remained a topic of conversation between the OHSAA and member school administrators since last being put up for vote.
“We want our member schools to shape that language,” he said.