The law
Arkansas's college NIL law is Ark. Code 4-75-1301 to 4-75-1309 (Arkansas Student-Athlete Publicity Rights Act) (status: in force). Everything on this page is taken from the enacted text on the legislature's own site, linked under Sources, read on October 21, 2026.
What it says
| Question | What the statute says | Section or source |
|---|---|---|
| Who is covered | A "student-athlete" is an individual who has been accepted for admission to, or signed a National Letter of Intent or other written agreement to enroll in, an institution of higher education in Arkansas, or who is enrolled at an institution of higher education and eligible for any varsity intercollegiate athletics program. An individual permanently ineligible for a program is excluded for that program. The subchapter does not define "institution of higher education" | 4-75-1302(7)(A), (B) |
| Disclosure to the school | A student-athlete who enters into an NIL contract discloses to a designated official of the school the existence of the contract, including its terms, conditions, parties and compensation amounts, within the time and in the manner the school designates. A professional representative for an NIL matter makes the same disclosure about the representation and the contract. No number of days is set in the statute | 4-75-1306(a), (b) |
| Banned categories | Notwithstanding any other provision of the subchapter, a student-athlete is prohibited from earning NIL pay in connection with anyone tied to: adult entertainment or sex-oriented products; alcohol; casinos and gambling, including sports betting; tobacco, marijuana or electronic smoking products; pharmaceuticals; dangerous or controlled substances; drug paraphernalia; weapons, including firearms and ammunition; and any product, substance or method banned in competition by the governing association. This is a state ban, not a list a school may choose to adopt | 4-75-1307(b)(1) to (9) |
| Conflicts with team contracts | An athlete or third-party licensee may not enter an NIL contract that requires promoting a licensee during a practice, competition or other varsity activity without the school's written authorization, conflicts with a contract, policy, rule, regulation or standard of the committed or enrolled school, or involves the athlete's performance or lack of performance in competition without the school's written authorization. Such a contract is void and unenforceable. A school may revoke or rescind a promise of compensation, a grant-in-aid or another benefit to an athlete who receives or agrees to receive conflicting compensation, without liability for damages or injunctive relief | 4-75-1304(a), (b); 4-75-1303(c) |
| School and coach involvement | A school, its supporting foundations or its authorized entities may identify, create, facilitate and otherwise enable NIL opportunities. Nothing requires a school or association to do so. The subchapter does not authorize athletes to use a school's names, marks, facilities, uniforms or other intellectual property, and keeps the school's academic, conduct and athletics rules. No one may give or promise NIL pay to an athlete enrolled at an Arkansas school, or a recruit who has entered an enrollment contract with one, to recruit or induce the athlete to enroll elsewhere. Coaches are not named, and since 2025-08-05 the liability shield no longer lists coaching staff | 4-75-1303(b)(1); 4-75-1307(a)(2) to (4); 4-75-1308(b)(1), (d) |
| Direct pay from the school | Since 2025-08-05 a school, its supporting foundations or its authorized entities may compensate a student-athlete for the commercial use of publicity rights and enter into an exclusive or nonexclusive license agreement for it. The subchapter does not require a school, its foundations or its authorized entities to pay an athlete for the uses listed in Ark. Code 4-75-1110. A state-funded medical school may not use state general revenue from tax dollars for athlete NIL. A college or its affiliated nonprofit may use sports-raffle receipts to pay athletes for NIL | 4-75-1303(b)(2), (3); 4-75-1307(a)(1); 4-75-1309; Ark. Code 23-120-104(d)(5) |
| Agents and attorneys | An agent, athlete agent, financial advisor or attorney providing professional representation of a student-athlete "shall be licensed, as applicable, in this state", and an athlete may rescind a representation contract without liability if the representative is not licensed in Arkansas. Athlete agents register with the Secretary of State under the Uniform Athlete Agents Act (Ark. Code 17-16-101 et seq.). The 2021 bar on penalizing an athlete for obtaining representation was removed effective 2025-08-05. No fee cap | 4-75-1305(a), (b)(2); Ark. Code 17-16-101 et seq., 17-16-105 |
| High school and minors | Recruits accepted for admission or signed to enroll at an Arkansas college are student-athletes under the subchapter since 2023-04-11, and the former bar on recruits negotiating NIL pay before enrollment was repealed then. No parental-consent rule for athletes under 18. High school NIL is not governed by this subchapter | 4-75-1302(7)(A)(i); Act 589 of 2023, s. 5 |
| Financial literacy | Not addressed | None |
| Scholarship protection | Not addressed since 2025-08-05. Act 810 of 2021 said NIL pay "shall not affect the student-athlete's scholarship eligibility" (later 4-75-1303(e)); Act 839 of 2025 struck it, and a school may now revoke a grant-in-aid for compensation that conflicts with its contracts or policies | 4-75-1303(c)(1); Act 839 of 2025, s. 1 |
| Confidentiality of contracts | Personal or financial information of a student-athlete in an agreement authorized under the subchapter is confidential and not subject to disclosure under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act of 1967 (Ark. Code 25-19-101 et seq.) | 4-75-1303(f) |
| NCAA and conference penalties | An athletic association, conference or other governing body may not prevent an athlete from receiving NIL pay under the subchapter; that bar has no exception. It also may not penalize the athlete for receiving the pay, or bar or penalize the school over it, "unless expressly agreed by an institution of higher education as a condition of athletic association or conference membership or as otherwise provided by applicable federal law". The 2021 rule that a school "shall not uphold" association NIL limits was removed effective 2025-08-05 | 4-75-1303(d)(1) to (3) |
| Remedies and enforcement | A school or an enrolled athlete adversely affected (suspended, disqualified or financially damaged) by an athlete agent or third-party licensee who breaks the subchapter may sue for damages; a school, its foundations and entities, and third-party licensees may sue anyone who pays or promises NIL pay to lure an athlete away; prevailing plaintiffs may recover punitive damages and attorney's fees. Schools, their employees, foundations, authorized entities and associations are not subject to liability for routine athletics decisions, for complying with association rules that do not violate the subchapter, or for limiting the eligibility of an athlete who breaks it. The subchapter waives no school immunity. A contract that violates the subchapter is void; an athlete may rescind an NIL or representation contract after eligibility ends | 4-75-1308(a) to (e); 4-75-1304(b); 4-75-1305(b) |
| Employee status | The subchapter does not make student-athletes employees based on participation. A student-athlete "has not been and shall not be considered" an employee of a school, conference or association for liability or damages under state law based on receiving compensation, payments or benefits, other than hourly wages for work actually performed, or on participation, team membership or school-imposed requirements | 4-75-1307(a)(5)(A), (B) |
How the 2025 rewrite changed Arkansas's law
Act 839 of 2025 (HB 1917) was approved on 2025-04-17, before the House settlement was approved on 2025-06-06, and took effect on 2025-08-05, the general effective date for 2025 acts (Bureau of Legislative Research, citing Ark. Atty. Gen. Op. 2025-032). Read from the struck and underlined text of the act:
- Added: school, foundation and authorized-entity pay and licensing (4-75-1303(b)(2), (3)); the school's right to revoke aid or promised pay for conflicting compensation (4-75-1303(c)); an Arkansas income tax exemption for NIL pay from a school and for "a percentage of institutional athletic revenue" that the school's association or conference permits, for tax years from 2025-01-01 (4-75-1303(e)); the FOIA exemption (4-75-1303(f)); written-authorization exceptions to the conflict rules (4-75-1304(a)); rescission when a representative is not licensed in Arkansas (4-75-1305(b)(2)); the employee-status rule (4-75-1307(a)(5)(B)); no NIL release needed from players or spectators for game broadcasts (4-75-1307(c)); a wider liability shield and a no-waiver-of-immunity clause (4-75-1308(d), (e)).
- Removed: scholarship protection (former 4-75-1303(e)); the right of 501(c)(3) charities to pay athletes, added in 2023 (former 4-75-1303(c)); the rule that a school "shall not uphold" association NIL limits (former 4-75-1303(d)); and the bar on schools and associations penalizing an athlete for obtaining representation (former 4-75-1305(b)).
- Narrowed: the bars on association penalties now give way to anything a school "expressly agreed" to as a condition of membership and to "applicable federal law" (4-75-1303(d)(2), (3)).
- Funding: Section 6 raised the share of unrestricted educational and general revenue a state-supported school may budget for intercollegiate athletics from 2% to 4% (Ark. Code 6-62-803(a)(2)).
Agents in Arkansas
Arkansas adopted the Uniform Athlete Agents Act by Act 1622 of 2001 (Ark. Code 17-16-101 et seq.) and tightened it with the Athlete Agent Reform Act of 2011 (Act 204, in force 2011-03-08). An "agency contract" covers a professional-sports-services contract or an "endorsement contract" (17-16-102). An athlete agent registers with the Secretary of State; the fee is $500 for an initial or renewal registration, or $100 if based on another state's registration, and a registration lasts two years (Act 1622, Sections 6(d) and 7; Secretary of State, checked 2026-10-21). The contract must be in a record, state the fees, services and duration, and carry a boldface warning, and the athlete may cancel within 14 days (Act 1622, Sections 8 and 10). Since 2011 an agent notifies the athletic director before contacting an enrolled athlete, and within 72 hours of an accidental contact; both agent and athlete notify the athletic director within 72 hours of an agency contract or verbal agreement, or before the next athletic event, whichever is first (17-16-111). Inducement violations are a Class D felony (17-16-115), the Attorney General may seek a civil penalty of up to $250,000 (17-16-117), and a court may revoke a registration and bar reapplying for up to five years (17-16-123). Separately, Ark. Code 16-118-109 (Act 1324 of 2013) lets a school sue an agent who violates the act, or anyone who knowingly induces an athlete into conduct that brings association penalties.
Raffles and medical schools
Two side rules round out the subchapter. Act 880 of 2023 bars a state-funded medical school from using state general revenue from tax dollars for athlete NIL (4-75-1309). Act 305 of 2025, the Arkansas Sports Raffle Act (in force 2025-03-18), lets a college or its affiliated athletics nonprofit run one raffle per official game and use the receipts to pay athletes for NIL "in accordance with" the Publicity Rights Act (Ark. Code 23-120-104(d)(5)); buyers must be 18 or older (23-120-107).
How it changed
| Act | What it did | Effective |
|---|---|---|
| Act 810 of 2021 (HB 1671) | enacted the Arkansas Student-Athlete Publicity Rights Act, 4-75-1301 to 4-75-1308: right to NIL pay, association bars, scholarship protection, conflicts, licensed representation, disclosure to the school, banned categories, civil remedy | 2022-01-01 |
| Act 589 of 2023 (HB 1649) | covered admitted and signed recruits (4-75-1302(7)(A)); let schools, foundations and authorized entities enable NIL deals and 501(c)(3) charities pay athletes (4-75-1303); added the bar on NIL pay to recruit an athlete away from an Arkansas school and a liability shield (4-75-1308(b), (d)); removed the bar on recruits earning before enrollment (former 4-75-1307(a)(5)); emergency clause | 2023-04-11 |
| Act 880 of 2023 (SB 456) | added 4-75-1309: a state-funded medical school may not use state general revenue for student-athlete NIL | 2023-08-01 |
| Act 305 of 2025 (HB 1634) | Arkansas Sports Raffle Act: a college or its affiliated nonprofit may use raffle receipts to pay athletes for NIL under the Publicity Rights Act (Ark. Code 23-120-104(d)(5)); emergency clause | 2025-03-18 |
| Act 839 of 2025 (HB 1917) | let schools, foundations and authorized entities pay athletes and license their NIL (4-75-1303(b)); let a school revoke aid for conflicting pay (4-75-1303(c)); removed scholarship protection, the 501(c)(3) clause, the "shall not uphold" bar and the representation non-penalty rule; allowed association penalties a school agrees to (4-75-1303(d)(2), (3)); state income tax exemption for school NIL and revenue-share pay (4-75-1303(e), tax years from 2025-01-01); FOIA exemption (4-75-1303(f)); employee-status, broadcast and liability rules (4-75-1307, 4-75-1308); raised the athletics subsidy cap to 4% (6-62-803(a)(2)) | 2025-08-05 |
Federal law
As of 2026-10-21, S. 4668 (Protect College Sports Act) passed the Senate 77-22 on 2026-09-28 and has been held at the House desk since 2026-10-05, with no House action; it is not law. If enacted as passed, § 121(a)(2) covers state laws that govern, regulate or invalidate school, conference or association rules on NIL compensation, transfers or eligibility, and § 121(a)(1) covers state laws that conflict with the title so as to prevent compliance. On its text, § 121(a)(2) describes Arkansas's limits on association action (4-75-1303(d)); since 2025 the bars on penalties (4-75-1303(d)(2), (3)) already yield to whatever a school agrees to as a condition of membership and to "applicable federal law", while the bar on preventing NIL pay (4-75-1303(d)(1)) has no such exception. School pay under 4-75-1303(b) matches § 101(c), which lets schools and collectives pay, subject to the revenue-share cap in § 114. § 101(a)(1)(D) would bar a school from revoking or reducing a grant-in-aid because of an NIL agreement "unless otherwise required by law"; 4-75-1303(c)(1) permits, rather than requires, revocation for conflicting pay. § 121(b) keeps, except where they conflict with § 121(a), Uniform Athlete Agent Acts (Arkansas's is Ark. Code 17-16-101 et seq.) and state contract, privacy and consumer protection law, the categories that the contract rules (4-75-1304, 4-75-1305(b)) and the FOIA exemption (4-75-1303(f)) fall in; § 121 does not mention state tax law (4-75-1303(e)) or a state list of banned sponsor categories (4-75-1307(b)). § 122 says the title is neutral on employee status (4-75-1307(a)(5)). The bill would also add a report to the school and the association within 5 days for Division I deals over $600 (§ 101(b)), a federal bar on penalizing an athlete for having an agent (§ 101(d)), which Arkansas removed from its own law in 2025, and a 5% cap on agent fees for endorsement contracts with no agency contract running past eligibility (§ 102).
What sits on top of it
- Division I reporting. Third-party deals of $600 or more go to NIL Go within five business days, whatever the state's own rule (NIL Go, reporting a deal, level by level).
- Your school. A school can set a stricter policy than the statute, and most set the disclosure process.
- Agents. Arkansas's athlete-agent rules are on the state-by-state registration table.
- High school. High school NIL in Arkansas is set by the state's athletic association, not this statute.
- Taxes. NIL taxes in plain words.
How Leave fits
In Leave, every deal thread carries a rules summary for the athlete's state and level, and keeps the contract, its dates and the disclosure deadline that applies. It is a summary, not a ruling; the school and the statute decide. Leave is software, not an agent, and takes 0% of any deal. You decide, you send.
Questions about college NIL law in Arkansas
What is Arkansas's NIL law in 2026?
The Arkansas Student-Athlete Publicity Rights Act, Ark. Code 4-75-1301 to 4-75-1309. It was enacted by Act 810 of 2021 (in force 2022-01-01) and amended by Act 589 of 2023 (2023-04-11), Act 880 of 2023 (2023-08-01) and Act 839 of 2025 (2025-08-05). It gives athletes the right to NIL pay, lets schools and their foundations pay athletes, requires disclosure of NIL contracts to the school, bans NIL deals in listed categories such as gambling and alcohol, and keeps athletes' personal and financial contract information out of FOIA.
Can Arkansas colleges pay athletes directly?
Yes, under state law since 2025-08-05. Ark. Code 4-75-1303(b) says a school, its supporting foundations or its authorized entities may compensate a student-athlete for the commercial use of publicity rights and enter into an exclusive or nonexclusive license agreement. Under 4-75-1303(e), NIL or revenue-share pay from a school is exempt from Arkansas income tax for tax years beginning on or after 2025-01-01. A state-funded medical school may not use state general revenue for athlete NIL (4-75-1309).
Do I have to tell my school about an NIL deal in Arkansas?
Ark. Code 4-75-1306(a) says a student-athlete who enters into an NIL contract shall disclose to a designated official of the school the existence of the contract, including its terms, conditions, parties and compensation amounts, within the time and in the manner the school designates. A professional representative makes a matching disclosure (4-75-1306(b)).
Does Arkansas require an NIL agent to be licensed?
Ark. Code 4-75-1305(a) says an agent, athlete agent, financial advisor or attorney representing a student-athlete "shall be licensed, as applicable, in this state", and an athlete may rescind a representation contract without liability if the representative is not licensed in Arkansas (4-75-1305(b)(2)). Athlete agents register with the Arkansas Secretary of State under the Uniform Athlete Agents Act: $500 for an initial or renewal registration ($100 if based on another state's registration), valid for two years. Arkansas sets no cap on agent fees.
What NIL deals are banned in Arkansas?
Ark. Code 4-75-1307(b) prohibits a student-athlete from earning NIL pay in connection with anyone tied to adult entertainment or sex-oriented products, alcohol, casinos and gambling (including sports betting), tobacco, marijuana or electronic smoking products, pharmaceuticals, dangerous or controlled substances, drug paraphernalia, weapons (including firearms and ammunition), or any product, substance or method banned in competition by the athlete's governing association.
Are NIL contracts public records in Arkansas?
Partly. Since 2025-08-05, Ark. Code 4-75-1303(f) makes a student-athlete's personal or financial information in an agreement authorized under the Publicity Rights Act confidential and not subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act of 1967. The statute does not say whether the rest of such an agreement is exempt.
Be your own agent. Leave.
