The money moved. The rules didn't keep up.
There is no "NIL law". There are four layers, a deal has to clear all of them, and the one person at the table with no experience reading contracts is the athlete. This is what changed, in order, with sources.
In order
The NAIA passes the first association rule letting athletes be paid to promote products and enterprises and to make appearances.
NAIA, October 2020 (industry summaries; handbook citation to be added)Two-year college athletes may be paid for their name, image and likeness, subject to state law and to no conflict with the college's own partnerships.
NJCAA Board of Regents, June 2021College athletes may be paid for their name, image, and likeness for the first time. Divisions I, II and III adopt the same interim policy. No federal framework; each state and school writes its own.
NCAA, June 30, 2021; interim policy effective July 1, 2021Athletes may be paid; schools may not penalize them. The statute carries its own sunset: June 30, 2025 or a federal law, whichever comes first.
Georgia General Assembly, HB 617 as passedUnder SB 26 and the community-college association's rules (the 3C2A), a team contract entered, modified or renewed from this date cannot stop an athlete from using their name, image or likeness outside official team activities. Athletes disclose proposed deals to the college 14 days ahead.
California SB 26; 3C2A bylaw 1.1.6, as published by member collegesMaterial connections must be disclosed clearly and conspicuously, in every post, including tags and silent placements. The advertiser must monitor its endorsers. This is the one federal rule that is in force and binding.
16 CFR Part 255; FTC release, June 29, 2023Georgia's high-school association allows NIL with hard limits: no pay for performance, no recruiting inducement, no school marks or facilities, no school liaison, no mention of NIL in recruiting. It is the only high-school rule in force in Georgia.
GHSA Appendix N, approved 65-10$2.576 billion in back damages. Division I schools that opt in may share revenue with athletes directly, capped at about $20.5 million per school in 2025-26. Third-party deals over $600 go through the NIL Go clearinghouse for a valid-business-purpose and fair-market-value review; the College Sports Commission enforces.
CRS LSB11349; Ropes & Gray, June 2025; CUPA-HR, June 9, 2025Under the College Sports Commission rules, a transfer from a two-year college must report every third-party deal of $600 or more made since this date or since two-year enrollment, within 14 days of enrolling at a Division I school or before the first game. High-school prospects carry the same duty from their junior year.
College Sports Commission rules, as summarised October 30, 2025The sunset in HB 617 arrives. No re-enactment follows. Georgia has no operative state college NIL statute; governance is the settlement, NIL Go, NCAA bylaws, and each school's own policy.
HB 617 sunset clause; 2025-26 session recordH.R. 4312, the federal bill that would have set one national standard, is withdrawn from the House floor in December 2025 and again in May 2026.
Congress.gov H.R. 4312; Morgan Lewis, May 2026The Georgia High School NIL Protection Act is read and referred in the Senate the next day and does not pass before the session ends. High-school NIL in Georgia stays on an association rule, not a statute.
LegiScan GA HB 383; Atlanta News First, February 12, 2026Directs federal agencies on college sports. Does not preempt state law and does not grant antitrust immunity.
EO 14400; Bradley, June 2026A broader Senate bill (Cruz, Cantwell, Schmitt, Coons). Introduced, not passed.
Morgan Lewis, June 2026What it does to an athlete
Every one of these is a gap an athlete, a parent, or a small program falls through at signing time. The right column is what NIL33 does about it, labelled with what is real.
Four layers, each with its own paper
Federal (the FTC), NCAA (the settlement and NIL Go), the state, and the high-school association. Nobody hands the athlete a checklist.
One agreement form written to clear all four, with the rules table by jurisdiction linked from it. Rules · Documents.
Over $600, prove the deal is real
NIL Go wants a valid business purpose and fair market value. An athlete with a handshake deal and a Venmo screenshot has nothing to show.
A flat fee, named deliverables, a countersigned agreement, and a public ledger entry: exactly the shape a fair-market-value review wants to see. Ledger.
Every paid post, every time
The FTC puts the monitoring duty on the advertiser. Most athletes have never read the guides, and most brands never check.
Disclosure text is in the kit, paid placements are logged by the Champion and checked, and "unpaid ambassador" is printed next to every Ambassador's name. Creator kit.
A seventeen-year-old and a deadline
In Georgia a high schooler sits under an association appendix, not a law. A parent is asked to sign something nobody explained.
A parent or guardian countersigns first; no school marks or facilities; nothing tied to performance or school choice; Contract Shield reads the paper with them. Contract Shield · Bill of Rights.
Who is actually on the other end
Brands, collectives, and strangers reach athletes directly. There is no record of who is verified, who holds authority for a minor, or whether a profile is real.
Know Your Athlete: a private profile the athlete owns, guardian and agent authority on record, a claimed account, and signed verification for schools and brands. The government-ID step waits on a vendor and the site says so. KYA.
Percentages everywhere
The traditional answer to all of this is another agent, another collective, another cut of the athlete's money.
No commissions, ever. Champions are paid a disclosed flat fee; Ambassadors are paid nothing; introductions earn a capped, flat honorarium that is also on the ledger. Why it is built this way.
Nobody can check without asking
A school, a brand, or a parent who wants to confirm a deal today has to take someone's word for it, usually the person who profits from it.
Every layer has a public address: the open ledger, signed receipts that verify live, signed verification statements for schools and brands, and metered access for the software a program already runs. The transparency stack.
The record has to travel
About 500 NJCAA colleges and 3,400 teams. Deals there are small, averaging a few hundred dollars, but a junior college transfer must hand every one of them to a Division I compliance office within 14 days of arriving. Most athletes have nothing to hand over.
A signed deal on NIL33 is already the document: the ledger entry, the receipt, the report pack. It moves with the athlete. For two-year programs.
Sources
- Congress.gov, H.R. 4312 (SCORE Act)
- eCFR, 16 CFR Part 255, Endorsement Guides
- Congressional Research Service, LSB11349 (House v. NCAA)
- GHSA, NIL as it pertains to high-school athletes (Appendix N)
- Georgia General Assembly, HB 617 as passed
- LegiScan, GA HB 383 (2025-26); Atlanta News First, February 12, 2026; Morgan Lewis, May and June 2026; Bradley, June 2026; Ropes & Gray, June 2025; CUPA-HR, June 9, 2025.
- NJCAA, April 8, 2026: Opendorse partnership renewed; $500,000 total, $310 per deal, $565 per athlete; NJCAA Board of Regents NIL bylaw, June 2021.
- College Sports Commission rules summary, October 30, 2025 (Division I scope; high-school and junior-college disclosure on enrollment).
- MiraCosta College NIL policy (3C2A bylaw 1.1.6, SB 26); CCCAA constitution. NAIA October 2020 legislation: industry summaries; handbook citation pending.
Corrections welcome at hello@nil33.com. The date at the top is the last full check of every row.