As used in KRS § 164.6941 to KRS § 164.6951, unless context otherwise requires:
(1) “Affiliated organization” means an entity whose primary purpose includes supporting or benefitting an institution or an institution’s intercollegiate athletics program or an officer, director, or employee of such an entity;
(2) “Agency contract” has the same meaning as in KRS § 164.6903; (3) “Athlete agent” has the same meaning as in KRS § 164.6903;
(4) “Compensation” means anything of value, monetary or otherwise, including but not limited to cash, gifts, in-kind items of value, social media compensation, payments for licensing or use of publicity rights, payments for other intellectual or intangible property rights under federal or state law, and any other form of payment or remuneration, but shall exclude:
(a) Tuition, room, board, books, fees, and personal expenses that a postsecondary educational institution provides a student-athlete in accordance with the rules of the intercollegiate athletic association of which the institution is a member;
(b) Federal Pell Grants and other state and federal grants or scholarships unrelated to and not awarded because of a student-athlete’s participation in intercollegiate athletics or sports competitions;
(c) Any other financial aid, benefits, or awards that an institution provides a student-athlete in accordance with the rules of the intercollegiate athletic association of which the institution is a member; or
(d) The payment of wages and benefits to a student-athlete by an institution for work actually performed, but not for athletic ability or participation in intercollegiate athletics, at a rate commensurate with the prevailing rate for similar work in the locality of the institution;
(5) “Enrolled” has the same meaning as in KRS § 164.6903; (6) “Image” means a picture or video of the student-athlete;
(7) “Intercollegiate athletic association” or “association” means any athletic association, athletic conference, or other similar organization which acts as an organizing, sanctioning, scheduling, or rule-making body of intercollegiate athletic events in which postsecondary educational institutions take part, or an officer, director, or employee of such entities;
(8) “Intercollegiate athletics” has the same meaning as “intercollegiate sport” in
KRS § 164.6903;
(9) “Likeness” means a physical, digital, or other depiction or representation of the student-athlete;
(10) “Name” means the first, middle, or last name, or nickname of the student-athlete when used in a context that reasonably identifies the student-athlete with particularity, which may include a team number, symbol, logo, or brand;
(11) “Name, image, and likeness agreement” or “NIL agreement” means a written contract or agreement between a student-athlete and a third party that gives compensation to the athlete in exchange for the use of the athlete’s name, image, or likeness;
(12) “Official team activities” means activities a postsecondary educational institution requires a student-athlete to participate in as part of a written team contract that includes but is not limited to games, practices, exhibitions, scrimmages, trainings, meetings, team appearances, team photograph and video sessions, individual photograph and video sessions, media interviews and appearances, marketing activities, team travel, and institutional camps and clinics;
(13) “Postsecondary educational institution” or “institution” means a public or private Kentucky college, university, or community college that participates in intercollegiate athletics, or an officer, director, or employee of such institutions;
(14) “Prevailing market rate” means a rate that is tethered to the value of the consideration the student-athlete provides in an NIL agreement and that is reasonable based on a comparison with:
(a) Student-athletes of similar skill and experience in that sport; (b) Student-athletes of similar notoriety; and
(c) NIL agreement compensation in similar markets;
(15) “Prospective student-athlete” means a person who is not currently enrolled in a postsecondary educational institution but has been identified by that institution for possible recruitment and participation in intercollegiate athletics;
(16) “Recruit” or “recruitment” means to attempt to influence a person’s choice of postsecondary educational institution;
(17) “Student-athlete” means a person who:
(a) Has entered into a contract to enroll and participate in intercollegiate athletics as an athlete at an institution; or
(b) Is enrolled and participates as an athlete in intercollegiate athletics at an institution; and
(18) “Third party” means a person or entity, other than an institution, affiliated organization, or an association, that offers, solicits, or enters into an NIL agreement.
Effective:March 9, 2022
History: Created 2022 Ky. Acts ch. 12, sec. 1, effective March 9, 2022.
Legislative Research Commission Note (3/9/2022). 2022 Ky. Acts ch. 12, sec. 9, reads as follows: “The General Assembly hereby declares all name, image, and likeness agreements entered into pursuant to Executive Order 2021-418 to be valid for the duration of one year from this Act becoming law. Upon that date, any contracts entered into pursuant to the order shall become invalid but may be renewed by the student athlete pursuant to the provisions of this Act. Executive Order 2021-418 is hereby nullified and is of no further force or effect.”
Legislative Research Commission Note (3/9/2022). Under the authority of KRS
7.136(1), the Reviser of Statutes has renumbered certain subsections in this statute during codification to arrange the terms in alphabetical order. The words in the text were not changed.