Ohio State football: Ohio introduces NIL bill

It seems that the Ohio State football team will get some clarity on name, image, and likeness before the Fall rolls around as the state has a bill on the table to address those issues.

The Ohio State football program isn’t the only big-time program that has been waiting on clarity on name, image, and likeness. It has been an issue that has been talked about for the last 8 or 9 years and there hasn’t been any clarification on laws until recently.

As we’ve talked about, the NCAA has been slow on this issue and is waiting for a federal law to fix everything. It sounds like the state of Ohio has decided to speed things up and has a bill on the table that would address these issues on July 1, which is when a lot of other NIL laws take effect.

There are some interesting things that are in this bill. Everyone, not just Ohio State football or basketball players, would be able to profit off of name, image, and likeness. Every FBS athlete in the state would be able to do that, they just can’t do stuff for alcohol, tobacco, firearms, or drug companies.

The Ohio State football program won’t be left behind now

It is interesting to me that the schools don’t have veto power over any sponsorship and player would want to do. For instance, Ohio State couldn’t tell Chris Olave to not do an Addidas deal even though they are a Nike school. They’d have no option but to let that happen.

This bill is just something that has been introduced. It’s not something that has been voted on by anyone yet. There is still a lot that needs to be done before a vote can happen. Even so, it’s encouraging that there is a bill out there that can do something about this.

Passing this bill would keep Ohio State from getting left behind by schools like Alabama, Florida, and other Southern schools. They’re going in a good direction.