The University of Florida released its school guidelines Thursday for student-athletes and their endorsements and compensation as the July 1 enactment of Florida’s name, image and likeness bill (NIL) approaches.
None of UF’s guidelines interfere with the bill, which allows student-athletes to profit off of third-party endorsement deals using their own name, image and likeness separate from the university. In fact, the first bullet point restates what student athletes can be compensated for in accordance with the NIL rule.
The school also reiterated the rules that the school itself or the school’s boosters cannot provide financial benefits for current or future athletes, and benefits cannot be used to trade for athletic performance or commitments to the university.
The Gators did lay down some restrictions. NIL compensation deals are not supposed to interfere with team or class schedules or events. Athletes can only display logos related to the university or the athletic department, and the school said facilities from the athletic department can be used with prior approval and waiver forms handled by the Operations Department.
In addition, Gators cannot enter agreements which extend beyond their time with the school or any agreements with gambling, sports wagering and performance-enhancing drug vendors.
All NIL agreements must be disclosed to the athletic department within four days.
Student-athletes are also allowed to use Florida state-licensed lawyers and members in good standing of The Florida Bar as legal representation for name, image and likeness matters only.
Contact Ryan Haley at rhaley@alligator.org . Follow him on Twitter @ryan_dhaley.
Ryan Haley, a UF journalism senior with a sports & media specialization from Jacksonville, Florida, is Summer 2022's Engagement Managing Editor. He grew up playing a bunch of different sports before settling on golf, following Rory McIlroy and all Philadelphia sports teams. He also loves all things fiction, reading, watching shows and movies and talking about whatever current story or character is in his head.
