Sponsors (4)
The bill strengthens protections, transparency, and legal remedies for student‑athletes and clarifies tax authority for NIL investment accounts, while imposing greater litigation exposure and compliance costs on agents, schools, financial institutions, and potentially new tax/reporting obligations for taxpayers; a trade-off between athlete protections and increased administrative and legal burdens.
Student-athletes will pay lower agent commissions because agent fees for endorsement contracts are capped at 5% of contract value.
Current and former student‑athletes gain stronger access to remedies: they can sue for agent misconduct in court, recover actual damages and attorney’s fees, and obtain injunctive or equitable relief; pre-dispute arbitration and class‑waiver clauses are invalidated so collective and court-based redress remains available.
Athletic associations, states, and the public get greater transparency and standardization of agent credentials through clearer registration standards and searchable online registries maintained by associations.
Agents, agent-run businesses, and counterparties face increased litigation risk and potential higher legal costs because more disputes can go to court and fee-shifting encourages lawsuits; courts may see heavier caseloads, lengthening dispute resolution.
The 5% fee cap may make some endorsement deals unprofitable for agents, causing them to decline representation or reduce services, which could limit access to experienced representation for some student-athletes.
Athletic associations, schools, and financial institutions will incur administrative and technical compliance costs to create and maintain searchable registries, implement NIL account rules, and link resources—costs that may be borne by institutions or taxpayers.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Introduced December 4, 2025 by Marsha Blackburn · Last progress December 4, 2025
Creates new tax rules to treat certain name-image-and-likeness (NIL) earnings as eligible for designated investment accounts and reforms the law that governs athlete agents. It adds a new tax code part for “NIL investment accounts” (effective for taxable years beginning after Dec 31, 2025) and expands federal regulation of agents who negotiate endorsement deals for student-athletes. Imposes a 5% cap on agent fees for endorsement contracts, requires agents to be registered or certified by a state or by certain professional registries before representing student-athletes, obliges athletic associations to maintain public searchable registries of certified agents and provide FTC information, and gives current and former student-athletes a federal/private right to sue agents for violations while invalidating pre-dispute arbitration and class-action waiver clauses for disputes under the law.