SALT LAKE CITY — College professionalathletes in Utah who are looking to earnings off their name, image and similarity will have to lookfor composed approval from their schools for any company offer surpassing $600 under a costs that gotten last legal approval on Friday.
The policy offering Utah universities more control over student-athletes’ marketing collaborations, understood as NIL offers, passed by a 21-7 vote in the state Senate on the last day of the 2024 legal session after the House authorized it last month with little opposition. It now heads to the desk of Republican Gov. Spencer Cox, who stated on Friday that he supports the costs.
Under the step, universities will be needed to offer composed recommendation on whether an NIL offer disputes with the school’s policies or the requirements detailed in the expense.
Starting May 1, student-athletes will be restricted from promoting alcohol, cannabis, regulated compounds or tobacco items such as e-cigarettes and vapes. Gambling and sports-betting are off-limits too, as are “sexually oriented” companies that pay staffmembers for complete or partial nudity. Athletes cannot promote any gun that they cannot lawfully have.
Before this year, Utah remained on the sidelines while more 30 states passed legislation regulating NIL offers in light of a 2021 choice by the National Collegiate Athletics Association to lift its restriction on student-athletes cashing in on their star. Several of those states have because clashed in court with the NCAA over who has the authority to control those offers.
Rep. Jordan Teuscher, a South Jordan Republican and the expense’s main sponsor, stated it’s time for Utah legislators to dive into legislating what he called “the wild, wild West” of student-athlete recommendations.
While the policy brings Utah in line with an NCAA requirement that professionalathletes notify their schools of big NIL offers, it goes a st