SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — College athletes in Utah who are looking to profit off their name, image and likeness will have to seek written approval from their schools for any business deal exceeding $600 under a bill that received final legislative approval on Friday.
The policy giving Utah universities more control over student-athletes' marketing partnerships, known as NIL deals, passed by a 21-7 vote in the state Senate on the final day of the 2024 legislative session after the House approved it last month with little opposition. It now heads to the desk of Republican Gov. Spencer Cox, who said on Friday that he supports the bill.
Under the measure, universities will be required to provide written acknowledgment on whether an NIL deal conflicts with the school’s policies or the standards outlined in the bill.
Starting May 1, student-athletes will be prohibited from promoting alcohol, marijuana, controlled substances or tobacco products such as e-cigarettes and vapes. Gambling and sports-betting are off-limits too, as are “sexually oriented” businesses that pay employees for full or partial nudity. Athletes cannot promote any firearm that they cannot legally possess.
Before this year, Utah stayed on the sidelines while more 30 states passed legislation regulating NIL deals in light of a 2021 decision by the National Collegiate Athletics Association to lift its ban on student-athletes cashing in on their celebrity. Several of those states have since clashed in court with the NCAA over who has the authority to regulate those deals.
Rep. Jordan Teuscher, a South Jordan Republican and the bill's primary sponsor, said it's time for Utah lawmakers to jump into legislating what he called “the wild, wild West” of student-athlete endorsements.
While the policy brings Utah in line with an NCAA requirement that athletes inform their schools of large NIL deals, it goes a step beyond by requiring schools to sign off on those agreements. Opponents have argued that because NIL deals are between the student and a third party, neither the university nor the state should have a say in them.
The high value of some local NIL deals came into view in December 2023 when University of Utah basketball players and gymnasts began pulling up to class in flashy new Jeeps and RAM trucks that sell for over $40,000. The students had been offered leased vehicles through an NIL deal with a company called the Crimson Collective.
Henrie Walton, an administrator at Utah Tech University who addressed the Legislature on behalf of the state’s universities, said the institutions are “comfortable” with the bill.