Florida updates NIL legislation to remove legal restrictions
The state of Florida updated its NIL legislation on Thursday, rolling back restrictions while allowing universities to offer additional entrepreneurial workshops to their players.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed HB 7B: Intercollegiate Athlete Compensation and Rights in Law with Florida State football coach Mike Norvell, Florida football coach Billy Napier and players from both schools present.
“This is an important and necessary step in the NIL process to align us more with what is happening in the country,” Florida State Athletic Director Michael Alford said. “…We will always make what is best for the student-athlete our top priority.”
Among the biggest changes: Schools, teams and coaches will be allowed to help facilitate transactions for players. Under current NCAA rules, schools cannot pay players directly or use name, image, and likeness agreements as recruiting or retention incentives.
“In 2020, we took a common-sense approach to ensuring that student-athletes can control their name, image and likeness and be paid fairly for it,” DeSantis said. “Now that the NCAA has taken the necessary steps to ensure fairness for student-athletes, we can focus on ensuring that these athletes are supported and protected under the law.”
The bill requires players to attend two workshops on financial literacy, life skills and entrepreneurship before graduating.
In addition, agents who represent players in their NIL transactions are required to protect them from unauthorized use or exploitation of their NIL or publicity rights. Coaches and schools are not responsible for damage to a player’s ability to earn NIL money as a result of their decisions.
“We are grateful to the governor and the legislature for making this NIL bill a reality,” said University of Florida AD Scott Stricklin. “We continue to value every opportunity our athletes have to be compensated for their name, image and likeness. NIL is a key ingredient in the Gators’ current and future success.”
Florida became one of the first states to enact NIL legislation in 2020, but because it was at the start of NIL, lawmakers put safeguards in place to help protect universities and players from the rules. of the NCAA.
In the opinion of many state residents, these guardrails ended up being too restrictive. Some states have never passed NIL legislation, while others, such as Alabama, have completely repealed their state laws and deferred to guidance offered by the NCAA.