ATLANTA — An executive order from Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is set to shake up the landscape of NIL (also known as Name, Image and Likeness deals) in the Peach State.
On Tuesday, Gov. Kemp signed an executive order preventing the NCAA, an athletic conference like the ACC or the SEC or any organization from preventing a college in Georgia from “facilitating compensation, offering compensation or compensating an intercollegiate student-athlete for the use of such student-athlete's NIL.”
In other words, all colleges in Georgia are allowed to issue NIL money to their players without being restricted by the NCAA. The executive order applies to all post-secondary institution, drawing no distinction between public and private programs. That means the executive order applies to all universities whether they be public like UGA and Georgia Southern or private like Mercer and Wesleyan.
The NCAA’s current rules do not allow any schools to directly pay players for their rights to their name, image and likeness (NIL), but this order changes that for college athletes in Georgia.
Currently, outside organizations, like the Classic City Collective, handle all NIL deals and partnerships with players. Many times they are brand deals with fast food chains, local restaurants and more, offering a source of revenue to college athletes.
With the executive order, UGA Athletics themselves can handle these deals and issue the money themselves. However, the executive order carves out an exception, prohibiting schools from using taxpayer money or other money given from the state in these deals to athletes.
The National Athletic Association and the larger conferences like the ACC and SEC agreed back in May to allow schools to directly pay players. The settlement reached between the conferences and the NCAA hasn’t been finalized, but could wrap up in the fall of 2025.
This settlement will allow each school to allocate around $20 million to share with its players. This rule also was a part of the NCAA settling multiple federal antitrust cases, which forced them to pay more than $2.7 billion in damages with current and former athletes over the past 10 years.
Gov. Kemp’s executive order is similar to one issued by Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin in April. Georgia is the second state to issue the executive order.
In a statement, Georgia athletic director Josh Brooks and Georgia Tech athletic director J Batt thanked Gov. Kemp for issuing the executive order but also didn’t share any current plans about the possibility of paying athletes.
Georgia football head coach Kirby Smart spoke on the new executive order at a Tuesday press conference and was excited about what it could mean for his team and the various student athletes at UGA.
“Appreciative,” Smart said. “Want to be competitive as we can be in our field of endeavor, this world we live in. And it’s not just us, apparently, it’s the whole state of Georgia. Very appreciative of Gov. Kemp and his staff for allowing us to be competitive in putting us on a level playing field, and continuing to support our student-athletes. This is going to benefit the student-athletes and very appreciative of them supporting them."
The recent changes to NIL are just a few of the off-the-field changes college football has seen. The NCAA’s Division I Council agreed to new rules in January to provide more NIL education and education on signing and properly following contracts to players, but also forced players to disclose their NIL agreements when they exceed $600.
The council also passed new rules to allow schools to assist with NIL activities. Schools can now identify potential NIL opportunities for student-athletes, facilitate deals between student-athletes and third parties and provide increased school support of student-athlete NIL activities.
These rules also removed national restrictions how much support that schools like Georgia or Mercer, or providers like the Classic City Collective can offer to student-athletes.
Unlike for college, NIL in high school works differently. For a further detailed explanation, take a look below: