STATE NAME, IMAGE, AND LIKENESS LAWS
Navigating NIL Starts Here.
The interim NCAA NIL policy requires institutions and athletes in states with passed NIL legislation to follow their state’s bill.
If an institution is in a state without an NIL bill, then the institution is responsible for putting NIL guidelines in place for their athletes.
JUMP TO A STATE
ALABAMA
Name: HB 404
Passed: April 20, 2021
Effective: July 1, 2021
Notables:
- Student-athletes could receive compensation for their name, image, and likeness at “market value”.
- Student-athletes could hire an agent or attorney to represent them for the purposes of receiving NIL compensation.
- Universities could not unreasonably restrict student-athletes from receiving NIL compensation or hiring an attorney or agent.
- Universities could not compensate their own athletes for NIL.
- NIL compensation could not be used as a recruiting inducement or a reward for participation or performance.
- The bill would also set up an Alabama Collegiate Athletics Commission to make rules consistent with the bill, consult with experts on college athletics, and monitor compliance with the law.
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ARIZONA
Name: SB 1296: Collegiate athletics; compensation
Passed: March 26, 2021
Effective: July 23, 2021
Notables:
- Prohibits collegiate athletes from entering into contracts that conflict with their team’s contract(s).
- Includes agent licensing requirements.
- Protects Collegiate athletes from being denied a scholarship or eligibility for their sport if they receive NIL-based compensation.
- Prevents collegiate athletes from entering into contracts that conflict with another individual’s, or their institution’s, intellectual property rights.
- No provision requiring collegiate athletes to disclose endorsement contracts.
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ARKANSAS
Name: AR HB 1671: Arkansas Student-Athlete Publicity Rights Act
Passed: April 21, 2021
Effective: January 1, 2022
Notables:
- Athletes can’t promote themselves during practices, games, or other team activities.
- Contracts can’t conflict with the institution’s contracts or policies.
- Athletes are permitted to hire representation but they must be licensed in Arkansas.
- Athletes must disclose contract terms, conditions, parties, and compensation to a designated official of the university.
- Athletes are prohibited from endorsing adult entertainment, alcohol, casinos, drugs, or weapons.
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CALIFORNIA
Name: SB 206: “Fair Pay to Play Act”
Passed: September 27. 2019
Effective: January 1, 2023
Notables:
- The first state to legislate the right of collegiate athletes to earn compensation for their NIL.
- Only applicable to athletes enrolled at 4-year institutions.
- Forbids deals that undermine an institution’s existing endorsements.
- There may be a supplement added to the original bill to ensure full protection of college athletes’ rights and also move up the effective date no later than January 1, 2022.
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COLORADO
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Name: SB20-123: “Compensation and Representation of Student-Athletes”
Passed: March 20, 2020
Effective: January 1, 2023
Notables:
- Prevents any athletics association from developing legislation that restricts an athlete from monetizing their NIL.
- An athlete can seek legal representation but it must be a licensed attorney.
- Athletes may not enter into an agreement that conflicts with a team contract.
- Athletes must disclose any signed agreements to the institution within 72 hours.
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FLORIDA
Name: SB646: Intercollegiate Athlete Compensation and Rights
Passed: July 12, 2020
Effective: July 1, 2021
Notables:
- Compensation must not be based on athletic performance or attendance at a particular institution.
- Athletes may not enter into an agreement if the terms conflict with the terms of the athlete’s program. If a conflict does occur, the institution is required to disclose the conflict to the athlete.
- Any attorney representing an athlete must be in good standing with the Florida Bar.
- Agreements can’t extend beyond the athlete’s eligibility.
- Institutions are required to conduct financial literacy and life skills workshops that include financial aid, debt management, and budgeting.
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GEORGIA
Name: HB617: Postsecondary education; student-athletes may receive compensation for use of name, image, or likeness
Passed: May 6, 2021
Effective: July 1, 2021
Notables:
- Institutions are permitted to “pool” up to 75% of an athlete’s NIL earnings to be distributed amongst all eligible athletes after graduation.
- Contracts can’t conflict with the institution’s contracts or policies.
- Colleges are required to conduct a five-hour financial literacy and life skills workshop at the beginning of student athletes’ first and third years.
- Students would also be allowed to hire agents to negotiate on their behalf.
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KENTUCKY
Name: Passed via executive order
Passed: June 24, 2021
Effective: July 1, 2021
Notables:
- Recommends (but doesn’t require) the institutions to provide financial literacy, social media & brand management, and time management education and resources for athletes.
- Permits institutions to create reasonable limitations on or promulgate reasonable rules pertaining to dates and times that an athlete can do their NIL work.
- Permits institutions to nix opportunities that they deem incompatible or detrimental to the image, purpose, or stated mission of the institution.
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MARYLAND
Name: Jordan McNair Safe and Fair Play Act (SB 439)
Passed: May 18, 2021
Effective: July 1, 2023
Notables:
- The safety measures go into effect on July 1, 2021. However, the NIL provisions take effect on July 1, 2023.
- Allows colleges to prohibit an athlete from engaging in in-person advertising for a third-party sponsor during official and mandatory team activities.
- The act mandates that schools adopt guidelines to prevent, assess, and treat brain injury, heat illness, rhabdomyolysis, and other serious sports-related conditions.
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MICHIGAN
Name: House Bill 5217 and 5218
Passed: December 30, 2020
Effective: December 31, 2022
Notables:
- Athletes can enter endorsement deals, hire agents and attorneys, and accept gifts without risk of punishment.
- No apparel contract that conflicts with the institutions.
- Athletes must disclose the deal to the institution seven days prior to committing to the opportunity.
- Restricts the use of the name and/or other intellectual property of the university in conjunction with the student-athletes use of their NIL.
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MISSISSIPPI
Name: Mississippi SB 2313: Mississippi Intercollegiate Athletics Compensation Rights Act
Passed: March 31, 2021
Effective: July 1, 2021
Notables:
- Similar provisions to the laws of the six states that have already confirmed NIL rights.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
- However, it allows a school to impose reasonable limitations on the dates and times a student-athlete may participate in any endorsement activities.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
- Allows athletes to hire an agent but the athlete must give 7-day notice of their selection.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
- Mandates disclosure of endorsement deals to their schools before the deals can become effective.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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MONTANA
Name: SB 248
Passed: April 30, 2021
Effective: July 1, 2023
Notables:
- Applicable to both 2 year and 4 year institutions
- An athlete can’t enter a contract that conflicts with team rules or terms of their institution’s contract.
- Athletes must disclose contracts to a school official.
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NEBRASKA
Name: LB962: Nebraska Fair Pay to Play Act
Passed: February 25, 2020
Effective: On or before July 1, 2023
Notables:
- Prevents an athletics association from taking away an athlete’s eligibility for monetizing their NIL.
- Prevents an athletics association from penalizing an institution that permits athletes to exercise their NIL rights.
- Athletes must disclose a detailed account of all deals to the institution.
- Athletes aren’t permitted to enter contracts that require advertising during team activities and/or conflict with their team’s contracts.
- Each institution in Nebraska is able to choose a date to apply the act’s regulations.
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NEVADA
Name: AB 254
Passed: May 29, 2021
Effective: January 1, 2022
Notables:
- An institution may require athletes to receive education in contracts, financial literacy, or any other subject the institution deems necessary to prepare the athlete.
- The Legislative Committee on Education will appoint a committee to conduct an interim study on the use of NIL.
- Athletes must disclose contracts but no time frame is specified.
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NEW JERSEY
Name: Bill NJ S971: New Jersey Fair Play Act
Passed: September 14, 2020
Effective: 2024-2025 Academic Year
Notables:
- Athletes can hire an agent to represent their NIL interests and it prevents an athlete from being declared ineligible from monetizing their NIL.
- Forbids deals with adult entertainment products and services, alcohol, gambling, tobacco, pharmaceuticals, controlled “dangerous” substances, and weapons. Violations could result in an athlete losing their scholarship.
- Forbids deals that conflict with a team contract.
- A team contract is permitted to utilize their athletes’ NIL for advertising and marketing without additional compensation to the athlete.
- Athletes required to disclose deals to the institution.
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NEW MEXICO
Name: SB 94: Student Athlete Endorsement Act
Passed: April 7, 2021
Effective: July 1, 2021
Notables:
- No state university can take away a scholarship or punish in any way a college athlete for “receiving food, shelter, medical expenses or insurance from a third party or for earning compensation from the use of the athlete’s name, image, likeness or athletic reputation.”
- Athletes can not endorse any product while playing their sport (i.e. during games) or use official team gear for endorsements they set up on their own.
- The athletes are allowed legal representation for potential endorsement deals, but that doesn’t mean they can hire agents who may represent them for playing professionally.
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OKLAHOMA
Name: SB 48
Passed: May 28, 2021
Effective: No later than July 1, 2023
Notables:
- Similar to Nebraska’s NIL bill, Oklahoma’s law allows schools to give athletes their NIL rights immediately.
- Contracts must be disclosed to schools within 72 hours or before the athlete’s next athletic event, whichever occurs first.
- Athletes can’t enter into contracts that have provisions that conflict with provisions in their team’s contact.
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SOUTH CAROLINA
Name: S685: Intercollegiate Athletes’ Compensation for Name, Image, and Likeness
Passed: May 6, 2021
Effective: May 2022
Notables:
- May only be for third-party endorsements, the athlete’s non-athletic work product, or activities related to a business that the athlete owns
- Such activities may not take place during the student’s academic, athletic, or team-mandated activities
- Compensation may not be earned for the endorsement of tobacco, illegal substances or activities, banned athletic substances, or gambling
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TENNESSEE
Name: HB 1351
Passed: May 11, 2021
Effective: January 1, 2022
Notables:
- Requires Tennessee colleges to conduct a financial literacy workshop for athletes new to the school.
- Students are prohibited from endorsing gambling, alcohol, tobacco, or adult entertainment products.
- Allows schools to prohibit the use of logos and other university trademarks in the endorsements,
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TEXAS
Name: SB 1385
Passed: June 14, 2021
Effective: July 1, 2021
Notables:
- Athletes may not endorse alcohol, tobacco products, e-cigarettes, anabolic steroids, sports betting, casino gambling, a firearm that the athlete can’t legally purchase, or a sexually oriented business.
- Requires athletes to attend a financial literacy workshop.
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CONNECTICUT
ILLINOIS
OHIO
Name: Executive Order 2021-10D
Passed: June 28, 2021
Effective: July 1, 2021
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