Nebraska bill would amend state NIL law, target House v. NCAA settlement terms

In January, Nebraska became the latest state to introduce an amendment to its NIL law ahead of the House v. NCAA settlement approval hearing and target key terms of the agreement. A hearing took place last week.

State Sen. Megan Hunt introduced LB 370 in January to amend the current state law and allow schools in Nebraska to directly pay athletes. Universities will be able to share up to $20.5 million directly with athletes next season under the House settlement if it receives full approval from Judge Claudia Wilken. A hearing for the bill took place before the business and labor committee March 17.

However, the bill would also restrict a “collegiate athletic association” from interfering with student-athletes’ NIL rights in Nebraska. It also wouldn’t allow the NCAA or any other third party to disclose athletes’ NIL deals. Under the House settlement, third-party NIL deals worth more than $600 would need to be approved by a clearinghouse that will vet contracts.

Nebraska has a bill to amend its NIL law that’s gone under the radar.

It gives athletes the right to enter into deals with collectives & says the NCAA can’t prohibit/interfere with that right.

It also says the NCAA can’t require athletes or schools to disclose 3rd party deals. pic.twitter.com/eJNR3ZCbaV

— Mit Winter (@WinterSportsLaw) March 27, 2025

“A collegiate athletic association shall not … Require a student-athlete, an athlete agent, a postsecondary institution, an athletic program supporter, a name, image, or likeness collective, or a third party to report any information about a contract or agreement for the use of a student-athlete’s name, image, or likeness rights or athletic reputation,” the bill states.

Nebraska isn’t the only state to introduce such a bill ahead of the House v. NCAA settlement. An Oregon representative filed a similar bill in February, which would also bar the NCAA from requiring athletes to disclose terms of their NIL deals.

According to Oregon’s bill, any conference, athletic association or organization – including the NCAA – cannot “require a student athlete to provide or disclose a contract or any terms or conditions of a contract by which a student athlete receives compensation for the use of the student athlete’s name, image, likeness or athletic reputation, if the terms of the contract prohibit the student athlete from providing or disclosing the contract or terms or conditions of the contract.”

In addition, the bill would prohibit athletes in Oregon from entering into certain kinds of NIL deals. Athletes would not be able to sign deals with brands related to alcohol, tobacco, nicotine and gambling, among others.

The House v. NCAA settlement received preliminary approval in October 2024, and the hearing for final approval is set for April 7. It will be held both remotely and in-person.

If approved, the House settlement would usher in the revenue-sharing era in college athletics as schools would be able to share up to $20.5 million directly with athletes starting in 2025. NCAA president Charlie Baker and others also continue to lobby for help at the Congressional level in the landscape, and leaders are heading back to Capitol Hill on April 9 – two days after the approval hearing – for “College Sports Day.”