There are not many things that will cause Clemson and South Carolina to come together. But when there is a proposed bill that can protect their student-athletes in the ever-changing-world of collegiate athletics, then they will come together all the time.

A subcommittee of the Senate Education Committee in South Carolina gave its preliminary approval for a Name, Image and Likeness bill that will allow college athletes the opportunity to engage in NIL opportunities and deals through a third party.

The bill has now been referred to the Committee on Education. The bill is proposed to go into law on July 1, 2022.

There are already six states—California, Florida, Colorado, Nebraska, New Jersey and Michigan—who have passed laws similar to bill No. 685 that the South Carolina legislation is trying to get approved. The bill will allow South Carolina colleges and universities, such as Clemson University and the University of South Carolina, to compete on a level playing field with those six states.

This past Wednesday, Clemson athletic director Dan Radakovich and South Carolina’s Ray Tanner, testified to the subcommittee. The goal of the bill is to assure student-athletes will be able to receive compensation for their NIL and not an exchange for athletic performance or as a recruiting tool.

Student-athletes will be able to receive funds through non-athletic work, such as monetizing through a social media platform or You Tube, things that regular students are already allowed to do. Also, it will keep schools from facilitating these NIL opportunities as a means to recruit or pay the student-athlete for participating.

“We believe this an important piece of legislation that protects our student athletes from unscrupulous conduct and keeps our South Carolina higher education institutions in a competitive environment with peers in other states,” Radakovich said during his testimony. “All student athletes will have the ability to earn income from their own name image and likeness. Things like endorsements, social media influencer activities are available to all. This would be a legitimate compensation for student athletes NIL activities and not an inducement to attend a certain school or for on field performance.”

Radakovich went on to ask the payments must be from a third party who does not work at the institution.

“This is not pay for play legislation,” Radakovich said. “The student-athlete will be able to hire an agent to assist with these activities. There are safeguards in the act to ensure the student-athletes’ families are not just signing away their rights and that they not enter into agreements which would jeopardize their eligibility to perform in collegiate athletics.”

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