New Texas Legislation Marks Major Shift for NIL Opportunities for Athletes

On Thursday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a new name, image, and likeness bill that will be going to immediate effect that allows recruits to benefit on their name, image and likeness (NIL).

The House of
Representatives pass the bill passed after a two-thirds majority vote per Travis Brown at KBTX. 

The Texas law is intended to allow universities in Texas to compete with other schools when it comes to working with high school athletes on NIL.

This new NIL law will allow opportunities between the student-athlete and the university and dovetails into the House vs. NCAA settlement, which is yet to be approved.

The bill passed by a two-third majority after an addition that bars anyone younger than 17 to participate in an NIL deal. This legislation would allow high school seniors, once they've turned 17, to sign NIL deals. It is required that any contract a student is entering into must be disclosed to the university they are attending according to Texas Bill Research. 

Representative Carl Tepper, (R-District 84) was the author of the bill. He told KBTX: “Recruiting is in full force in the summertime and we want to make sure that Texas has every advantage of any other state."

Another important piece to this bill is that the bill offers flexibility as the NCAA makes subtle changes, which can include the House settlement or other post-House regulations.

There are unique parts of this bill that are different from the current national precedent. Texas will not allow students to endorse certain products like alcohol, tobacco, any form of nicotine, sports wagering, sexual-oriented business, etc. This is all specified in Section 243.002 of the bill. 

There has been a major concern nationally with young kids receiving so much money and financial responsibility. Texas is trying to address this by requiring a financial literacy workshop before they are allowed to capitalize on the full effects of their NIL deals. This is not the national precedent, but Texas is setting the standard to help regulate their student-athletes.

While this is a state wide bill each school has set their own rules and regulations around their student-athletes NIL deals. 

Texas Tech University, for example, has widely capitalized on the new NIL law. As soon as the law went into effect students were allowed to add their emails to social media biographies for business inquiries. They launched a program called Beyond Verified which will be similar to many NIL programs. The school is doing everything in its power in order to protect and help their students through the madness that NIL has brought.