Ohio State AD Gene Smith claims recruits are asking for $5K to visit campuses in NIL era

Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith has claimed in a written testimony that it has "become common" for potential prospective college athletes to ask for $5,000 merely to visit a school’s campus.

Smith's assertion comes on the same day he and others from across the world of college athletics appeared before the House Committee on Small Business in Washington, D.C., to discuss the impact of name, image and likeness (NIL) rules on college sports. Smith is among those who believe federal legislation is needed.

“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 in his testimony.

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In both his written testimony and in spoken statements before the committee, Smith said more than 420 Ohio State athletes have at least one NIL deal, and that athletes across all of the school’s teams have made more than 2,000 NIL deals. The athletes who have attracted the most NIL attention have been from the Buckeyes’ football and women’s volleyball teams.

He wrote that of those NIL activities, 44% come from social media engagements; 24% from royalty payouts; 9% from public appearances; 2% from autographs; 3% from camps and clinics; and 18% from miscellaneous ventures.

Why Gene Smith believes a federal NIL law is necessary

Smith emphasized he never would have envisioned — or desired — college athletics to need help from the federal government. But now, he said, the time has come for it.

He believes that as various states have passed their own NIL laws, many of which vary in scope and implementation, there needs to be some sense of uniformity.

“Congress needs to enact NIL legislation as soon as possible,” he said.

When asked to rate his confidence on a scale of 1 to 10 in the NCAA being able to get effective rules and guardrails put in place without federal legislation, Smith put it at a four.

He said the issue has been compounded by the presence of collectives, many of which he noted have gone from being 501(c)(3) organizations to limited liability corporations in light of a recent IRS interpretation.

“In many markets, the efforts of the LLCs are in direct competition with athletic departments,” Smith told the committee. “While these efforts for sure are beneficial to student-athletes in the short run, athletic directors are now finding themselves making funding decisions based on declining income streams, which could in turn hurt our student-athletes.”

He later said that much of the work done by collectives is beneficial.

“Some of them are legitimately helping student-athletes connect with local businesses and doing actual, good NIL work,” he said. “But they’re largely fan clubs.”

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What Gene Smith wants from a federal NIL law

Smith argued, both in writing and in oral statements, that an effective piece of federal NIL legislation would include the following measures:

• A national NIL standard

• NIL agent registration

• Standard NIL contracts

• Prohibition of inducements

• An NIL public registry

• Maintain the amateur model of athletics

• Strong enforcement measures

As he put it, “protections need to be put in place.”

“We do a lot of education,” Smith said. “All of our schools do. But it’s the third party that impresses that individual. It’s an uncle who’s not an uncle that it’s very difficult for us to get to. Many of these deals are cut by them. That’s a challenge that we have in our space and it’s why we need help.”

He repeatedly stressed the need to eliminate “bad actors” from the NIL space, something he thinks could be accomplished with a federal law.

“Student-athletes are being taken advantage of,” he said. “That’s saddening. It’s sickening to read some of the reports where we allow all of these unscrupulous characters to enter the space and ultimately take advantage of families and young people, particularly people from disadvantaged environments.”

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Gene Smith’s stance on NIL

Throughout the hearing, Smith voiced his support for NIL.

He described it as “beneficial to the student-athlete experience” and said it has “been more successful than portrayed.” By allowing athletes to monetize their personal brand, they’ve simply been allowed to “enjoy the same privileges that other students on our campuses have.”

Beyond that, he believes it serves a useful purpose.

“NIL is a great educational tool,” Smith said. “Student-athletes learn about a host of entrepreneurial skills such as fiscal responsibility, income tax management, personal brand development and marketing. I believe the lessons learned from NIL further strengthen the holistic development of a young person and fills his or her toolbox for success in life.”

Gene Smith's NIL proposal

Following the hearing, Smith said in an interview with Yahoo Sports that he would change existing NCAA scholarship rules so that more revenue could be given to athletes.

Under Smith's plan, universities could create licenses for their athletes, who could then decide what school-related NIL opportunities in which they'd want to take part. The intimate involvement of the schools would run counter to NCAA rules and NIL laws in many states that limit a university's role in helping their athletes land NIL deals.

“Some people believe the money [to athletes] should flow through the institution. I’m not one of them, unless we settle on a new scholarship model,” Smith said in the interview. “We give room, board, tuition, cost of attendance and [Alston v. NCAA] money. What you’d do is add to the scholarship model an amount of dollars for NIL money.”

Such a change would come with legal hurdles, especially since the extra pay could be viewed as another step toward athletes becoming employees of the university, a distinction that the NCAA and administrators at a number of schools have strongly pushed back against in the past.

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This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Gene Smith claims recruits asking for $5K for visit is 'common' in NIL