Short version: Your deals come with you when you transfer. The state rules around them become your new school's state's rules, and Ohio requires a deal you bring in to meet the same limits as one signed there.
Three sets of rules touch a deal when you change schools. The contract you signed. The law of the state your new school is in. And in Division I, the national reporting rule, which doesn't change with the map.
Moving doesn't end a deal by itself. What happens to it is written in the deal, and sometimes in the new state's law. Here's what four primary texts say, read on October 23, 2026.
The contract comes with you
A deal is between you and the brand, not you and the school. Its term, which is how long it runs, and its termination clause, which says how it can end, are what decide whether it survives the move.
Some deals don't mention transferring at all. Some do. Either way, the answer sits on the page you signed, not in the transfer portal.
State law follows the school
Each state college law we've read is written about schools in that state. California's covers UC, CSU, the community colleges and private colleges in California. Ohio's covers athletes at Ohio's public and private colleges.
So when your school's state changes, the state rules change with it. Ohio and Mississippi wrote rules for the day you arrive or leave, and they point in opposite directions.
Ohio: a deal you bring in has to fit
Since March 20, 2026, Ohio voids a college deal that does any of three things. It runs past the day you're no longer eligible. It takes pay or rights you earn after that. Or it sends disputes to another state.
Void means the contract doesn't count, legally, at all. Every deal also has to say disputes happen in Ohio and are "governed by Ohio law."
Then the line written for transfers. If you move to an Ohio school from out of state, a deal that's "in effect on the date of the transfer" and is "to continue in effect" at the new school has to meet the same limits.
The law puts that on the parties to the deal, which means you and the brand, to make sure it does.
A deal that fit your old state's law has to fit Ohio's when you arrive.
Ohio also asks for a look before you sign. You disclose a proposed deal to an official your school names. If it conflicts with a contract the school is part of, the school tells you which provision, and you can negotiate a revision.
Mississippi: a way out when you leave
Mississippi wrote the opposite kind of rule. Since July 1, 2025, a third-party deal formed while you compete at a Mississippi school, or after you give notice of intent to transfer, can be ended by you or the other side.
The trigger is the day your "participation in the sport at the institution ends." The statute says either party may end the deal then. It doesn't say the deal ends on its own.
Mississippi also bars enrolled athletes from deals for gambling, sports betting, alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, adult entertainment and a few more, in the statute itself. California's law names no banned categories, though a school can have its own policy.
California: tell the school
California's law has been in force since September 1, 2021. For every paid deal, you "shall disclose the contract" to an official your school designates. The statute sets no deadline and no form.
A deal can't conflict with your team contract, and a school that says one does has to show you the provisions. A team contract can't stop you using your name, image or likeness when you're not at official team activities.
The rule that follows you: Division I reporting
In Division I, deals are reported to NIL Go, run by the College Sports Commission. For a four-year transfer, the NCAA's bylaw starts the clock on the day your name is "officially entered into the NCAA Transfer Portal."
From that date, deals of $600 or more are reported, with deals from the same payer added together. A deal that was already cleared and stays in place after the move "shall not be required" to be resubmitted.
The deadline is 14 days after you enroll full time at the new school, or before its first scheduled game against outside competition, whichever comes first. Once you're enrolled, a new deal of $600 or more is reported within five business days of signing.
The two states, side by side
The map at leaveyouragent.com/nil/college has Compare two on every table. Pick the state you're leaving and the one you're going to, and each rule is marked SAME or DIFFERS.
Each state page carries the statute's own words and the day it was checked. Every source for this post is linked at the bottom.
What Leave does with this
Upload a contract and Leave reads it back in plain words, including the term and the termination clause. Home keeps the dates in one place, and the disclosure window sits next to each deal. We built it for the week everything moves at once.
Leave takes 0 percent of anything you sign. The deals are yours, in whichever state you land. You decide what to sign.
Questions people ask
Do I have to report my deals again after I transfer?
In Division I, a deal the College Sports Commission already cleared, and that stays in place after the move, doesn't have to be resubmitted (NCAA Bylaw 22.2.2.5.2). Deals of $600 or more signed after your name went into the transfer portal are reported, within 14 days of enrolling or before the first outside game, whichever comes first.
Which state's law covers my deals after I transfer?
The state college laws we read are written about schools in their own state. California's covers California campuses. Ohio's covers athletes at Ohio's public and private colleges. A contract can also name the state whose law governs it, and Ohio requires its own for college deals.
Can a deal end because I transferred?
It can if the contract says so, and one state adds a way out. Mississippi lets you or the other party end a third-party deal formed while you competed there, or after you gave notice of intent to transfer, when your participation in the sport at that school ends.
Be your own agent. Leave.