Current Law Overview
Ohio law allows college athletes to earn NIL compensation and obtain representation without losing eligibility, provided their contracts do not conflict with team or institutional agreements and comply with House settlement requirements. Ohio's most significant recent addition to the legal landscape (HB 184) creates an explicit termination trigger not present in every state: NIL contracts cannot extend beyond an athlete's collegiate career under any circumstances.

NIL

Ohio's NIL rights for college athletes were established beginning in 2021 through executive order and subsequent legislation.

 

Under Ohio law, schools cannot prevent athletes from earning NIL compensation or obtaining legal and agent representation, provided contracts comply with the following requirements:

• NIL contracts must not conflict with team or school contracts.

• Schools in Ohio may prohibit athletes from entering NIL deals with companies that sell alcohol, marijuana, or adult entertainment products — verify whether your institution has adopted such restrictions and communicate them clearly to athletes.

• Any NIL deal valued at or above $600 must be reported through the NILGo platform within five business days of execution (a federal/NCAA obligation applicable to all Division I schools, including Ohio's).

• Athletes must disclose NIL contracts to their school.
   

Effective March 20, 2026 — HB 184: All NIL contracts must include a termination provision tied to the athlete's collegiate career. A contract that purports to bind an athlete beyond the end of their collegiate eligibility is now legally unenforceable in Ohio.

Key Compliance Obligation: Audit any multi-year NIL agreements athletes executed prior to March 20, 2026. If those agreements contain provisions that extend obligations beyond the athlete's collegiate career, those provisions are now void under Ohio law. Going forward, review every new NIL contract for termination language and flag any agreement that does not include a clear end date tied to collegiate eligibility.

Rev-Share
The House settlement allows universities to pay student athletes directly for their participation in a sport.

Schools are permitted to budget $21.3 (2026-27) million towards paying student athletes.

Athletic directors and general managers have discretion to pay athletes different amounts.

​

Key Compliance Obligation: Rev-share agreements must be documented and structured separately from NIL contracts. Your compliance office should have a classification standard that determines whether a payment is triggered by deliverables (NIL) or by roster status and athletic participation (rev-share). Be mindful of Title IX compliance. 

Agent Law

Ohio Revised Code Chapter 4771 governs athlete agents in Ohio. Ohio's agent law has several provisions that differ meaningfully from other states—compliance staff should know these distinctions.

 

• Registration: Agents must register with the Ohio Athletic Commission before representing any Ohio college athlete. This is different from states where registration runs through the Secretary of State. Registration requires submission of an application, business location information, five years of prior occupation history, proof of a required security (trust fund or bond), and an application fee set by the Commission.

 

• Commission-Approved Contract Form: No agent may enter into a representation agreement with an Ohio college athlete unless the contract is on a form approved by the Ohio Athletic Commission. A contract that is not on the approved form is a violation — regardless of what the contract says.

 

• Required Disclosures in the Contract: Every agent contract must include, in boldface 12-point type on the first page, a disclosure that the agent is registered with the Ohio Athletic Commission and that registration does not imply the Commission's approval of the contract terms or the agent's competence. A separate boldface eligibility warning must appear near the athlete's signature block.

 

• 10-Day Rescission Right: Athletes have the right to rescind any representation agreement within 10 days of the latest of the following: (a) the date the contract is signed; (b) the date the athletic director receives notice of the contract; or (c) the last date the athlete participates in an officially sanctioned competition, if no notice was provided. This is not the 90-day window that exists in California—Ohio's window is 10 days.

 

• 72-Hour Notice Requirement: Both the agent and the athlete are independently required to notify the athletic director within 72 hours of signing a representation agreement—or before the athlete's next practice or competition, whichever comes first. This is a hard deadline on both parties.

 

• Arbitration Clauses are Void: Any provision in an Ohio agent contract requiring arbitration of disputes is void and unenforceable unless it is part of a contract with a bona fide labor union. This is a notable Ohio-specific limitation that agents may attempt to include anyway.

Agents must also comply with the federal Sports Agent Responsibility and Trust Act (SPARTA).

Key Compliance Obligation: The 72-hour notice requirement is a hard deadline with no grace period. Your compliance office needs a system to flag when an athlete has entered a representation agreement, and to confirm that both the agent's notice and the athlete's notice have been received within 72 hours. An agent using a non-commission-approved contract form is itself a violation that should be reported. If an athlete presents a contract with an arbitration clause, flag it immediately—that clause is unenforceable under Ohio law regardless of what the agent claims.