Student-athlete Protections and Opportunities through Rights, Transparency, and Safety Act

This bill sets national rules for college athletes’ name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals. It lets student athletes sign NIL agreements, while allowing schools to limit an athlete’s eligibility only if a deal breaks the student code of conduct, harms the school’s reputation, or conflicts with an existing school contract. Athletes must tell their school about any NIL deal within 60 days, and schools generally can’t share the details without consent. Having an agent cannot make an athlete ineligible, and NIL deals must be in writing with clear basics like services, parties, dates, pay, and when the deal can be ended for not doing the work .

College sports conferences and interstate college sports associations must set up a way for NIL representatives to register and run a public, searchable database to help athletes estimate fair market value for deals. Schools must send anonymized data about NIL agreements each year, starting by July 1 of the first year after this becomes law, and the database must protect privacy so no athlete can be identified . These groups may also set and enforce recruiting and transfer rules, including limiting pay used to lure transfers. Athlete agents must tell athletes whether they’re registered with a sports association; if not, they need written consent after disclosing that they’re not registered.

• Who is affected: college student athletes, colleges, and interstate college sports associations.
• For federal education funding: colleges must give training on career prep, money skills, mental health, NIL, nutrition, sexual violence prevention, strength and conditioning, and the transfer process; they must also cover medical costs from sports injuries for 4 years after a student leaves the school. Scholarships can’t be cut for performance or injury, and must be available up to 10 years for finishing a degree. These funding rules apply starting 1 year after the bill becomes law .
• When: athletes must disclose NIL deals within 60 days; schools start NIL data reporting by July 1 of the first year after enactment; the funding tie-in starts 1 year after enactment; medical coverage lasts 4 years after leaving; degree-completion aid can be used within 10 years .
• Legal protections: schools and sports groups that follow this law are protected from lawsuits for enforcing NIL and eligibility rules.
• National standard: states could not enforce conflicting NIL or college-athlete employment/eligibility laws. The bill also says students are not employees just because they play on a college team.