Oregon student-athletes can now make money through NIL, with some guidelines

OSAA Delegate Assembly voted on Monday to set parameters

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- On Monday, the Oregon School Activities Association voted to set parameters for student-athletes regarding endorsements related to name, image and likeness, or NIL.

“Students can be compensated for their name, image and likeness,” OSAA Executive Director Peter Weber said Friday. “But there are some parameters around that."

Oregon is the 19th state to allow NIL deals for high school athletes.

Bronny James, the son of LeBron James, and two other big0name high school athletes from California and New Jersey signed an endorsement deal with Nike on Monday.

“We're not seeing that right now in Oregon,” Weber said of large NIL deals. “That could be something that we see here in the future, so we wanted to have a policy that outlined it.”

Under the new policy, an Oregon student may earn compensation through NIL, provided that:

• Their compensation is not:
  • Contingent on their performance
  • Used as a recruitment tool
  • Paid for by the school
• The athlete discloses any deal with their current school.

When seeking compensation for NIL, the student cannot:

• Use any OSAA or school logos
• Wear any OSAA or school apparel
• Reference the OSAA, school or mascot
• Use a school district facility
• Use any practice or game film
• Promote their product or service during school activities
• Promote any inappropriate products and services, such as alcohol, adult entertainment, tobacco, and other specified topics.

“The star quarterback of a team …  if a local pizza shop wants to put them in a commercial, can they do that now?” NewsChannel 21 reporter Noah Chats asked. 

“They could,” Weber responded. “Now, they wouldn’t be able to use game film, practice film. They wouldn’t be able to use the school’s name, they wouldn’t be able to have a student in uniform. So there’s those parameters, but yes, they would be able to have that, if that was something they wanted.”

After discussions with other states, the OSAA is recommending students and families seek legal and tax advice before taking any deal.

Weber said with constant NIL changes at the collegiate level, the OSAA will surely follow.

“I envision over time ,we’ll probably have to adjust this policy, because there's things that we haven’t thought of or that will come up,” Weber said.