Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signs bill to amend state NIL law

After a Texas bill to amend the state’s NIL law passed the House and Senate, it headed to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk. He signed it into law Thursday morning – paving the way for some high school athletes to sign deals.

Abbott signed HB 126 into law, which allows colleges in the state to directly pay athletes in line with the House v. NCAA settlement. It also means high school athletes who are 17 and older can sign NIL deals. That’s a shift from the previous verbiage that said only college athletes in the state could do so.

Texas State Rep. Brandon Creighton sponsored the bill, filed March 10, and the state House and Senate both signed it June 1. That meant it headed to Abbott’s desk for signature, and the law took effect immediately after he signed.

Under the previous law, high school athletes were not allowed to sign NIL deals and had to wait until they got to college. The amendment changes that, setting the age requirement at 17 years old to do so.

“Unless a prospective student athlete younger than 17 years of age is enrolled at an institution of higher education, an individual, corporate entity, or other organization, including an institution to which this section applies, may not enter into an arrangement relating to the athlete’s name, image, or likeness with the athlete or with an individual related to the athlete by consanguinity or affinity,” the law states.

Texas’ new NIL law also comes ahead of the landmark House settlement, which is set to usher in the revenue-sharing era in college athletics. Schools will be able to directly pay athletes up to $20.5 million in 2025-26, the first school year of the 10-year agreement, and the law allows schools to participate in rev-share.

The previous version of the law said institutions could not “provide or solicit a prospective student athlete of an intercollegiate athletic program at the institution with compensation in relation to the prospective student athlete’s name, image, or likeness.” The amended law eliminated that language, meaning universities can directly pay athletes.

At Texas, athletics director Chris Del Conte announced plans to fully fund every sport by maximizing roster limits that would be put in place by the House settlement. Additionally, he said the school is raising football season ticket prices by $13 per game to help defray the extra costs.

“I’m going to alter the season ticket price … to help defray the cost of what we’re doing,” Del Conte said during his annual town hall in February. “I’m doing this, y’all, because I’m trying to maintain the very best athletic program in the country.

“I hope that you think the value we provide you on game day with all the things that we’re doing – whether it’s Bevo’s Blvd., the concert, everything that we do – we’re trying to create incredible value to say thank you. But more importantly, for you to understand what we’re trying to do.”