Gene Smith Testifies Before Congress On Need For NIL Legislation

Ohio State athletics director Gene Smith was on the forefront of getting federal Name, Image and Likeness legislation passed Wednesday.

Ohio State athletics director Gene Smith has been repetitive and adamant that college athletics need uniform federal legislation to put up "guard rails" for Name, Image and Likeness, and he took the forefront step in fighting for that Wednesday.

Smith was a part of a four-person panel that testified before Congress' House Committee on Small Business, making his case for NIL limitations on a national landscape. Smith's ideal legislation would include a "national NIL standard, NIL agent registration ... standard NIL contracts, prohibition of (recruiting) inducements" and an "NIL public registry to bring transparency to the marketplace."

The "inconsistency" in state-to-state laws regarding NIL is why the federal government needs to enact a consistent legislation, Smith said. When asked by Rep. Aaron Bean on a scale of one to 10 what level of confidence he had in the NCAA to enact uniform NIL laws, Smith said it's at "a three or four."

Smith said part of the problems with NIL stems from "bad actors" who are "taking advantage of young people." This challenge with "unscrupulous" people has been around since before NIL when boosters would try to influence the decision of a recruit.

The 67-year-old who has spent the last 18 years with Ohio State said in a written testimony that recruiting — having to entice a player to choose a school to play at — has played a big part in the issue with NIL. Smith said in his written testimony that professional sports' drafting players "precludes this issue" because they can just select which player they want.

"Student-athletes and their parents visit campuses at the expense of those universities to evaluate where they may make a commitment," Smith wrote. "A practice of asking a school for a fee to simply visit campus has emerged; asking for $5,000 just to visit has become common. During visits, discussions now emerge regarding how much a student-athlete can expect from NIL."

Smith wrote that 420 Ohio State student-athletes have at least one of the "over 2,000" NIL deals that have been agreed upon with the most being given to football and women's volleyball players.

Others who testified alongside Smith on the principle of creating federal NIL legislation were TCU director of intercollegiate athletics Jeremiah Donati, former Miami Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Gino Toretta, and vice president of the College Football Players Association Madeline Salamone.