CLEMSON — The Clemson and South Carolina Athletic Departments are working together on a proposed bill to the South Carolina State Legislature that will allow schools within the Palmetto State to be more involved in NIL activities.

The Clemson Insider was told from a Clemson official that two-time national championship coaches Dabo Swinney and Mike Noonan will join South Carolina coaches Tuesday in Columbia to discuss the bill and how it can help their athletic departments succeed in the new world of college athletics.

TCI was told, the hope is to have the bill pass this summer that way Clemson, South Carolina and other schools in the state of South Carolina can bring their collectives in house to work with their athletic departments. If the bill is passed, it means Clemson’s 110 Society will be able to be ingested into IPTAY.

Clemson has been working towards this resolution for quite some time. Last summer, a working group was put together that involved representatives from Clemson’s former collectives—Dear Old Clemson and Tiger Impact—as well as the athletic department and IPTAY.

The goal of the working group was to come to a common ground, in the best interest of Clemson, that puts Clemson Athletics in the best position possible to succeed. The result was the formation of the 110 Society, a collective that was built with the plan to one day have it move in-house.

The 110 Society launched on November 17, 2023. The 110 Society is the new one-stop shop for all things Clemson NIL and official partner of Clemson Athletics.

The 110 Society creates opportunities for fans, donors and businesses to participate in and benefit from NIL deals with student-athletes.  C.D. Davies leads 110 Society as its General Manager after spending the past two years working as the NIL coordinator for Clemson Football. Previously, Davies was a longtime executive in the banking industry, serving as CEO for CitiMortgage, LendingTree and Wachovia Mortgage.

If the proposed bill passes, which TCI was told “it’s expected,” Clemson Athletics and IPTAY, through the 110 Society, will be allowed to identify potential NIL opportunities for student-athletes and even facilitate deals between student-athletes and third parties.

To help matters, the NCAA Council introduced similar plans. On Jan. 10, the council introduced proposals pertaining to school involvement and recruiting in NIL activities, noting that the proposals taken together should better support student-athlete decision-making and stabilize some of the current challenges associated with NIL activities.

According to the NCAA release, “the proposals — which could be adopted as early as April after considering membership feedback — would allow increased school support of student-athlete NIL activities and require that entities associated with a school are subject to the same standards as the school.

“The proposals would also clearly define an NIL entity for purposes of NCAA rules and expressly prohibit contact between NIL entities and prospects until the prospect signs a letter of intent, participates in summer activities or practices with the team, or enrolls at the school and attends classes.

“If adopted, the proposals would remove national restrictions on the level of support provided by schools and their third-party service providers to enrolled student-athletes as they pursue NIL opportunities. Schools would not be permitted to directly compensate student-athletes for the use of their NIL but could identify potential NIL opportunities for student-athletes and even facilitate deals between student-athletes and third parties. However, student-athletes should be able to retain their own representation if they choose and must ultimately retain independent authority over any resulting terms in the NIL agreement. Further, any entity that is associated with or closely aligned with a school would be subject to the same rules as the school itself when it comes to NIL and may not directly compensate a student-athlete.

“The proposals would clearly define an NIL entity as an individual, group of individuals or any other entity (for example, a collective) organized to support the athletics interest of an NCAA school or group of schools by compensating student-athletes for NIL activities on behalf of itself or another third party.

“The proposals would also eliminate regulations governing communications between schools and NIL entities regarding enrolled student-athletes but would continue to prohibit a school from directly or indirectly providing financial support or assets to NIL entities. The working group identified a need for schools and entities to be able to communicate to ensure NCAA rules are followed by both parties.”

Get your signed Valerie Cagle replica road sign today.  The nation’s top player has signed a limited number of these signs that have the same properties as a road sign.