(CN) — A high school football player sued the Ohio High School Athletic Association on Wednesday, seeking permission to profit from his name, image and likeness as he rises to stardom as a top recruit in his class.
Following an NCAA rule change allowing college athletes to be paid for use of name, image and likeness in advertisements, at least 44 states have adopted similar policies for high school athletes.
Ohio is not one of those states and strictly bans high school athletes from profiting from their NIL in the name of preserving amateurism. Jamier Brown wants to change that.
His mother, Jasmine Brown sued the Ohio High School Athletic Association on behalf of her son in Ohio's Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, claiming that the state’s NIL prohibition violates his First Amendment and equal protection rights.
“OHSAA’s blanket ban not only singles out Ohio’s high school student-athletes for unequal treatment, but it also unlawfully suppresses their economic liberty, freedom of expression and restrains competition in the NIL marketplace,” Jasmine Brown says in the complaint.
The family argues that the policy denies high school student athletes in Ohio the same rights to profit from their NIL as those in the 44 other states that allow the practice.
The NCAA changed its rules in 2021 to allow student athletes to be directly paid for the use of their name, image and likeness in advertising after being sued by a handful of collegiate swimmers in House v. NCAA.
That lawsuit ended in a $2.8 billion settlement that compensates past and current players for missed opportunities and paved the way for collegiate athletes to be paid a salary by their university. The language in the suit also opened up the opportunity for high school athletes to receive NIL compensation from third parties.
Although Ohio collegiate athletes gained the right to NIL compensation with the NCAA rule change, a proposal to extend NIL opportunities to high school athletes failed in 2022 by a 2 to 1 margin, according to athletic association.
In addition to her constitutional claims, Jasmine Brown also asserts an antitrust argument based on competition within the NIL marketplace.
By depriving Jamier Brown of the right to participate in the lawful market for NIL opportunities — including endorsement deals, sponsorships, promotional appearances and social media campaigns — OHSAA suppresses competition and chills his ability to grow his career as other athletes his age in other states are able to do, his mother claims.
“Each day that OHSAA’s prohibition remains in place inflicts irreparable harm to his career development, brand reputation, public exposure, goodwill and constitutional rights,” Jasmine Brown said.
Jasmine Brown suggested less restrictive alternatives to the total ban, like regulating time, place and manner of NIL activities or requiring prior disclosure and compliance oversight.
Jamier Brown is the number one football recruit in the Midwest for the class of 2027. The wide receiver has verbally committed to Ohio State University and is the subject of substantial attention from the media, according to his mother.
He’s been approached with several opportunities to be compensated by sports brands and local business for his name, image and likeness, the likes of which tally up to over $100,000 in potential revenue for the Wayne High School sophomore.
The NCAA already requires student athletes to disclose to their schools information related to NIL agreements exceeding $600 and is currently considering a policy that would require high school athletes to disclose prior NIL contracts to the NIL Go clearinghouse established in the House settlement.
The association said in a statement on Wednesday that the lawsuit could trigger an emergency referendum vote of member schools on the NIL prohibition bylaw.
“We have been following this situation closely and have been preparing for this situation,” said OHSAA Executive Director Doug Ute. “We were hoping this would wait for the referendum voting period in May … we are prepared to move forward with our member schools on this issue.”
In his own statement on X, Jamier Brown praised his mother and said that he wanted to use the lawsuit to help other athletes across the state.
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