Ohio Rep. Adam Bird wants to ban high school NIL deals in 2026

An Ohio lawmaker said he plans to introduce legislation banning high school athletes from profiting from their name, image and likeness.

The announcement of the upcoming push follows a Nov. 24 decision by the Ohio High School Athletic Association to approve such deals. The OHSAA’s member schools voted 447-121 in favor of an emergency bylaw referendum permitting high school athletes to seek NIL compensation.

The new bylaw, which took effect immediately, allows high school athletes to be compensated for using their personal brand for commercial purposes. The teenagers are now permitted to earn money through things like endorsements, social-media promotions, autograph sessions and licensing agreements, Cleveland.com reported.

Sports-law attorney Robert Boland told the news source that most NIL deals for high school athletes “resemble small-scale, part-time marketing work ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars, often driven by local businesses near an athlete’s school,” adding that “basketball typically leads the NIL marketplace among high schoolers, followed by football and wrestling.”

State Rep. Adam Bird, R-New Richmond, who chairs the Ohio House Primary and Secondary Education Committee, told the Cleveland news source that he hopes to introduce legislation in the new year that prohibits high school students from doing so, adding that his plan to introduce legislation is a direct response to the OHSAA’s decision.

He also said that high school athletics should focus on teaching skills like discipline and work ethic rather than providing opportunities for students to earn money.

“I think high school sports should be about teaching health and fitness, social connection, discipline, work ethic, character development, leadership, communication skills, those kinds of things,” he told Cleveland.com. “NIL money is the opposite of what we should be seeking to accomplish with high school sports.”

Bird also said that the NIL contracts could negatively impact the mental health of young athletes, citing a 2024 study of college athletes that found that suicide rates among NCAA athletes have doubled throughout the last 20 years and now represent the second-leading cause of death among that population.

“If you’re so talented that you can earn money on what God has gifted you, go earn money somewhere else,” he told the Cleveland outlet. “But I don’t think you should be doing that in high schools in Ohio.”

Bird said he plans to introduce the bill within the next few weeks, adding that he hopes it could convince his colleagues to support it.