(a) An intercollegiate athlete may earn compensation for the use of the intercollegiate athlete’s own name, image, or likeness. Such compensation must be commensurate with the fair market value of the authorized use of the intercollegiate athlete’s name, image, or likeness. To preserve the integrity, quality, character, and amateur nature of intercollegiate athletics and to maintain a clear separation between amateur intercollegiate athletics and professional sports, such compensation must not be provided in exchange for athletic performance or attendance at an institution.
Terms Used In Tennessee Code 49-7-2802
Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
Athletic program: means an intercollegiate athletic program at an institution. See Tennessee Code 49-7-2801
Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
Institution: means a four-year public or private institution of higher education located in this state. See Tennessee Code 49-7-2801
Intercollegiate athlete: means a student who is enrolled in an institution and participates in an athletic program. See Tennessee Code 49-7-2801
Person: includes a corporation, firm, company or association. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
Representative: when applied to those who represent a decedent, includes executors and administrators, unless the context implies heirs and distributees. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(b)(1) An institution or an officer, director, or employee of the institution shall not compensate a current or prospective intercollegiate athlete for the intercollegiate athlete’s name, image, or likeness.(2) Neither a grant-in-aid for athletics awarded to an intercollegiate athlete by an institution, including the cost of attendance, nor an institution’s involvement in support of name, image, or likeness activities under this part constitutes compensation to or representation of an intercollegiate athlete by the institution for purposes of this part so long as the institution does not coerce, compel, or interfere with an intercollegiate athlete’s decision to earn compensation from or obtain representation in connection with a specific name, image, or likeness opportunity.(c) [Deleted by 2022 amendment.](d) Intercollegiate athletes who earn compensation for the use of the athlete’s name, image, or likeness must disclose any agreement and the terms of such agreement to the institution and file annual reports with the institution in which they are enrolled, at a time and in a manner designated by the institution. The report must include the identities of entities or persons who provide compensation to the intercollegiate athlete, the amount of compensation received from each person or entity, and any other information the institution deems relevant for determining such identities and compensation.(e) An institution shall not adopt or maintain a rule, regulation, standard, or other requirement that prevents or unduly restricts an intercollegiate athlete from earning compensation for the use of the athlete’s name, image, or likeness. Any compensation earned does not affect the intercollegiate athlete’s grant-in-aid or athletic eligibility. To the extent that intercollegiate athletes receive need-based financial aid, an institution may adjust an intercollegiate athlete’s need-based financial aid as a result of compensation earned for the athlete’s name, image, or likeness in the same manner as the institution would for other students with equivalent levels of financial need.(f) An institution may adopt reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions to prevent an intercollegiate athlete’s name, image, or likeness activities from interfering with team activities, the institution’s operations, or the use of the institution’s facilities.(g)(1) An institution may prohibit an intercollegiate athlete’s involvement in name, image, and likeness activities that are reasonably considered to be in conflict with the values of the institution.(2) An institution may prohibit use of the institution’s intellectual property, including, but not limited to, its trademarks, trade dress, and copyrights, by the institution’s intercollegiate athletes in the athletes’ personal name, image, and likeness activities.(3) Intercollegiate athletes are prohibited from involvement in name, image, or likeness activities that promote gambling, tobacco, alcohol, and adult entertainment.(h)(1) An intercollegiate athlete may obtain representation by a third party, including, but not limited to, an athlete agent, for the purpose of securing compensation for the use of the athlete’s name, image, or likeness. Any third-party representative of an intercollegiate athlete under this part shall be a fiduciary for the represented intercollegiate athlete. All athlete agents who represent intercollegiate athletes under this part for purposes of securing compensation for the use of the athlete’s name, image, or likeness must be licensed under § 49-7-2104 and must satisfy the requirements of title 49, chapter 7, part 21. If the athlete’s representative is an attorney who represents an intercollegiate athlete for purposes of securing compensation for the use of her or his name, image, or likeness, then the attorney must also be active and in good standing with the board of professional responsibility or equivalent entity in the state in which the attorney is licensed.(2) Parents, siblings, grandparents, spouses, and legal guardians of an intercollegiate athlete who represent the intercollegiate athlete for the purpose of securing compensation for the use of the intercollegiate athlete’s name, image, or likeness are not considered to be athlete agents for purposes of this part, and are not subject to the requirements for athlete agents as prescribed by this part.(i)(1) No intercollegiate athlete or the athlete’s representative may enter into an agreement for compensation for the use of the athlete’s name, image, or likeness if the agreement conflicts or unreasonably competes with the terms of an existing agreement entered into by the institution the athlete attends.(2) The institution asserting a conflict or unreasonable competition under this subsection (i) must disclose the relevant terms of the institution’s existing agreement that conflicts or unreasonably competes with the athlete’s agreement to the intercollegiate athlete or the athlete’s representative.(j) Any agreement entered into by an intercollegiate athlete under eighteen (18) years of age for the use of the athlete’s name, image, or likeness must be in accordance with title 50, chapter 5, part 2.(k) An agreement for representation of an intercollegiate athlete or to compensate for the use of an intercollegiate athlete’s name, image, or likeness may not be in effect any longer than the duration of the athlete’s participation in an athletic program at an institution.(l) Institutions shall conduct a financial literacy workshop for intercollegiate athletes during the athlete’s first full-time term of enrollment. The workshop must cover, at a minimum, information related to the requirements of this part, budgeting, and debt management. An institution may contract with qualified persons or entities to conduct the workshop.
