Mississippi makes major changes to NIL law

The NIL law in Mississippi is going to look much different.

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves signed a bill Wednesday saying schools can now talk with third parties who want to sign NIL deals with college athletes, according to the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal’s Parrish Alford. Previously, the law said schools couldn’t be involved with the third-party negotiations.

In addition, athletes can now sign NIL deals upon making a verbal commitment. That’s a major change from the previous ruling, which said athletes couldn’t sign any endorsement deals until they signed with their school of choice.

As part of the new legislation, NIL deals must also include a clause warning athletes can lose their eligibility if their agreement violates the law.

“The warning must be ‘in close proximity to the signature of the student-athlete, a conspicuous notice in boldface type and in capital letters,'” Alford wrote.

How Mississippi’s NIL law changes affect Ole Miss, Mississippi State

It’s a major development for Mississippi athletes, notably at Ole Miss and Mississippi State. Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin has been one of the most outspoken supporters of NIL since the NCAA made its ruling in July 2021. Just last week, Kiffin joined The Rich Eisen Show to talk about the impact NIL has on the transfer portal, which has been very active all offseason.

“A lot of them have figured it out,” Kiffin said, comparing player’s views on the transfer portal and NIL to NFL free agency. “I think you’ve seen a few of them, most of the time people are going in because they’re not happy where they’re at, or they want to play at a bigger level. We have started to see a few at places, it’s not they weren’t unhappy, they just figured this out. Like hey, I can you know, maybe come back to where I’m at, but let me see what I can get paid.

“So, and you’re going to have all these locker room dynamics where now you’re reading you got a player coming into school over there in East Tennessee that, you know, for $8 million dollars. Hasn’t played a down. And you got a locker room saying now wait, what if the guy doesn’t play? How’s that going to work? And how is the donor going to feel, that paid all that money when the guy’s not playing? So, you got a lot of things that haven’t been figured out at all.”