The law
South Carolina's college NIL law is S.C. Code §§ 59-158-10 to 59-158-60 (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 | An "intercollegiate athlete": someone who has graduated from high school and engages in, is eligible for, or may become eligible for an intercollegiate sport, at any "institution of higher learning", meaning any post-secondary educational institution, including a technical or comprehensive educational institution; the definition is not limited to public schools. The high school graduation requirement was added in 2024 | § 59-158-10(3), (4) |
| Disclosure to the school | Not addressed in Chapter 158 since 2024-05-21; Act 207 replaced the 2021 rule that athletes disclose each proposed NIL contract to the school before signing. Because an agency contract includes an NIL contract, the athlete agent act still has the agent and the athlete notify the athletic director within 72 hours after signing an agency contract or before the next athletic event, whichever is first. Deal reporting otherwise comes from school policy and, in Division I, NIL Go reporting, which is separate from state law | § 59-102-20(1); § 59-102-110(B), (C) |
| Banned categories | An athlete may not earn NIL pay for endorsing tobacco, alcohol, illegal substances or activities, banned athletic substances, or gambling, including sports betting. Separately, a school may prohibit an NIL use that conflicts with "institutional values as defined by the institution" | § 59-158-40(A)(1), (2) |
| Conflicts with team contracts | Not addressed since 2024. The 2021 text let a school bar NIL uses that conflicted with its sponsorship agreements or other contracts and required the school to disclose known prohibitions at admission; Act 207 removed both, leaving only the institutional-values ground | § 59-158-40(A)(1) |
| School and coach involvement | A school or any officer, trustee, director or employee may, directly or through an agreement with a third party, identify, create, solicit, facilitate and otherwise enable NIL opportunities for a currently enrolled athlete, and may let athletes use school trademarks and facilities. A school may not take fees from an athlete for facilitating NIL. A school and its staff, including coaches, are not liable for damage to an athlete's NIL earnings from decisions or actions routinely taken in athletics; common law claims of fraud, fraudulent misrepresentation or intentional misrepresentation are not barred. A school and its employees and contractors are not "athlete agents" | §§ 59-158-20(A), (B); 59-158-40(B); 59-102-20(2)(b)(iii) |
| Direct pay from the school | No appropriated funds of a school may be used to pay an athlete for NIL. NIL pay must be for the use of NIL, not athletic participation or performance, "unless otherwise permitted or authorized by a collegiate athletic association and institution of higher learning policy, a court order, or a settlement agreement". The chapter does not expressly authorize school pay; since 2026 § 59-158-50(C) refers to a school's "intercollegiate athletics revenue-sharing program" | §§ 59-158-20(C), (D); 59-158-50(C) |
| Agents and attorneys | An athlete agent in the chapter is a person registered with the Department of Consumer Affairs; an attorney acting as one also has to be a member in good standing of a state bar. An NIL contract is an "agency contract" under the Uniform Athlete Agents Act of 2018. Fees are $1,500 for a first registration, $2,500 on another state's certificate, $700 to renew and $1,000 to renew on another state's renewal; a registration lasts two years, and the department may act against an agent who skips 20 hours of continuing education every two years. An NIL agency contract may not pay the agent more than 20 percent of the NIL contract. The athlete may cancel within 14 days, a right that cannot be waived. Agents also comply with the federal Sports Agent Responsibility and Trust Act. Where Chapter 158 and the agent act conflict, Chapter 158 governs | §§ 59-158-10(1); 59-158-60; 59-102-20(1); 59-102-60(F); 59-102-70(C); 59-102-90; 59-102-100(H); 59-102-120 |
| High school and minors | Chapter 158 covers only athletes who have graduated from high school. For high school, Act 187 of 2026 says that from 2027-06-30 a public school district may not join or pay an interscholastic athletic association unless its rules contain "a total provision that prohibits students from earning compensation from the use of their names, images, or likenesses (NIL)"; FY 2025-26 budget proviso 1.49 set the same condition for that year. Under the agent act, a minor's parent or guardian signs the agency contract | §§ 59-158-10(4); 59-9-110(11); 59-102-100(G) |
| Financial literacy | Not addressed | None |
| Scholarship protection | Not addressed since 2024-05-21. The 2021 text said a grant-in-aid could not be revoked or reduced because an athlete earned NIL pay or hired representation (former § 59-158-20(I)); Act 207 replaced it | None |
| Confidentiality of contracts | NIL contract documentation a school collects or keeps is not a public record under the Freedom of Information Act, and a school may not be compelled to disclose it to an association or conference. A school's total yearly revenue-sharing spending is public, but per-athlete and per-sport amounts and percentages are exempt, and revenue-sharing negotiation records and agreements are confidential. Act 119 applies to pending suits and requests with no final judgment. The Code text on the Legislature's site still showed the pre-2026 "unless they are a party" wording on 2026-10-21 | § 59-158-50(A) to (C); Act 119 of 2026, § 2 |
| NCAA and conference penalties | An athletic association, conference or similar body may not enforce any rule, bylaw or other requirement that keeps a school out of intercollegiate sports or penalizes the school, its program or its athletes for an activity the chapter requires or authorizes, and may not stop a school from contracting with a third party to identify, facilitate, enable or support athletes' NIL activities | § 59-158-40(C)(1), (2) |
| Remedies and enforcement | Chapter 158 sets no private right of action or enforcing agency for its own rules, and shields schools and staff from damages for routine athletics decisions. Under the agent act, a school or athlete harmed by an agent may recover actual and punitive damages, costs and attorney's fees, and a violation is an unfair trade practice; prohibited agent conduct is a misdemeanor (up to $10,000 or three years); an administrative law judge may fine an agent up to $100,000; a contract from unregistered agent conduct is void | §§ 59-158-40(B); 59-102-40(C); 59-102-150 to 59-102-170 |
| Employee status | Not addressed | None |
How the law changed, 2021 to 2026
- 2021. Act 35 (S. 685) created Chapter 158. It allowed NIL pay only from third parties unaffiliated with the school, barred schools, conferences and boosters from creating or facilitating NIL opportunities, required disclosure to the school before signing, gave athletes a 10-day revocation period, and capped agent fees on NIL contracts at 10 percent. Section 7 set the start at the earlier of 2022-07-01 or the Attorney General's certification. On 2021-07-01, the day after the NCAA adopted its interim NIL policy, Attorney General Alan Wilson wrote to Governor McMaster: "I hereby certify that the policy adopted by the NCAA is consistent with the provisions of the act, making the act effective as of the date of this letter."
- 2022 to 2024. The FY 2022-23 budget (proviso 117.172) and the FY 2023-24 budget (proviso 117.158) each suspended "Act 35 of 2021 in its entirety" for the year. The FY 2024-25 budget carried the same proviso (117.156), but the Governor vetoed it on 2024-07-03, writing that after Act 207 "this proviso suspending Act 35 of 2021 is no longer needed."
- 2024. Act 207 (H. 4957), in force on the Governor's approval on 2024-05-21, turned the chapter around: schools and their staff may now create, solicit and facilitate NIL opportunities; associations may not penalize schools or athletes for what the chapter allows; the disclosure, revocation and scholarship rules were dropped; the agent fee cap rose from 10 to 20 percent; and schools and their employees and contractors were taken out of the agent definition.
- 2026. Act 119 (H. 4902) rewrote the records section after the House settlement brought revenue sharing. Governor McMaster vetoed it on 2026-03-11, writing that the per-athlete exemption "has merit; the group exemption does not." The House overrode 88-22 on 2026-03-25 and the Senate 30-12 on 2026-04-01.
Revenue-sharing records after Act 119
Under § 59-158-50 as amended in 2026, a school's total yearly spending on its intercollegiate athletics revenue-sharing program is subject to public disclosure. What any specific athlete receives, and what goes to any specific sport, in dollars or percentages, is exempt under the Freedom of Information Act, and negotiation records and the agreements themselves are confidential. The Act reaches pending lawsuits and requests that had no final judgment when it took effect. NIL contract terms a school collects from athletes were already outside the public records law; Act 119 removed the 2024 exception for contracts the school is a party to.
Bills that did not pass
From the Legislature's own bill records: S. 256 and H. 4031 (2021, NIL frameworks; died in committee), S. 861 (2021) and S. 306 and S. 1245 (2023 and 2024, athlete stipend and trust fund bills; died in Senate Education), H. 4015 (2021), H. 3501 (2023-24, passed the House and was read a second time in the Senate on 2024-05-07) and H. 3255 (2025) (letting certified agents pay certain pre-signing expenses), H. 4583 (2024, barring association interference with NIL earnings; died in committee), S. 993 (2024, Senate companion to H. 4957), H. 4977 (2024, a concurrent resolution asking Congress for a national NIL law; died in committee) and H. 4395 (2025, a state income tax deduction for athletes' NIL income; in House Ways and Means). H. 3658 (2025), a Department of Consumer Affairs bill that would add the department's contact language to required contract terms, including agency contracts under § 59-102-100(B), sits in House Labor, Commerce and Industry.
Agents in South Carolina
South Carolina's agent law is the Uniform Athlete Agents Act of 2018 (Chapter 102 of Title 59), administered by the Department of Consumer Affairs rather than the Secretary of State. Since 2021 its "agency contract" includes an NIL contract, and Act 35 raised the fees to $1,500 to register and $700 to renew every two years (from $500 and $300). The department keeps a public online directory of registered agents in good standing (§ 59-102-85).
How it changed
| Act | What it did | Effective |
|---|---|---|
| Act 35 of 2021 (S. 685, approved 2021-05-06) | added Chapter 158 to Title 59: NIL pay from third parties only, no school or booster pay or facilitation, disclosure to the school before signing, a 10-day revocation period, banned categories, scholarship protection; made NIL contracts "agency contracts" under the athlete agent act, raised agent fees, added continuing education, a public agent directory and a 10 percent agent fee cap. Section 7 set the start at the earlier of 2022-07-01 or the Attorney General's certification, which he gave on 2021-07-01 | 2021-07-01 |
| Act 239 of 2022 (H. 5150, FY 2022-23 budget), proviso 117.172 | "For Fiscal Year 2022-23, Act 35 of 2021 in its entirety ... is suspended" | 2022-07-01 to 2023-06-30 |
| Act 84 of 2023 (H. 4300, FY 2023-24 budget), proviso 117.158 | suspended Act 35 of 2021 "in its entirety" for the fiscal year again | 2023-07-01 to 2024-06-30 |
| Act 207 of 2024 (H. 4957, approved 2024-05-21) | rewrote §§ 59-158-10 to -60: schools and their staff may create and facilitate NIL opportunities, no appropriated funds for NIL pay, pay for performance only where association and school policy, a court order or a settlement allows, contracts may not outlast eligibility, liability shield, bar on association penalties, contract records not public; rewrote § 59-158-60 (dropping the rule that athletes disclose NIL contracts to the school before signing) and repealed §§ 59-158-70 and -80 (dropping the contract warnings and the 10-day revocation period); raised the agent fee cap to 20 percent; schools and their staff are not athlete agents | 2024-05-21 |
| Act 226 of 2024 (H. 5100, FY 2024-25 budget), proviso 117.156 | a third one-year suspension of Act 35 of 2021; vetoed by the Governor on 2024-07-03 as "no longer needed" after Act 207 (Veto 10); the bill page lists legislative action on the vetoes as "Pending" | vetoed 2024-07-03 |
| Act 119 of 2026 (H. 4902, vetoed 2026-03-11, veto overridden by the House 2026-03-25 and the Senate 2026-04-01) | rewrote § 59-158-50: NIL contract documentation a school holds is not a public record even where the school is a party; a school's yearly total revenue-sharing spending is public, but per-athlete and per-sport amounts and revenue-sharing negotiation records and agreements are exempt; applies to pending suits and requests without a final judgment. The act takes effect "upon approval by the Governor"; a bill passed over a veto has "the same effect as if it had been signed by the Governor" (S.C. Const. art. IV, § 21), so it took effect with the Senate override. The bill page's 2026-04-23 entry reads "Effective date See Act for Effective Date" and records the act number, not a different date | 2026-04-01 |
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 (bill status record on govinfo.gov, last updated 2026-10-07, read 2026-10-21); it is not law. If enacted as passed, § 121(a)(2) reaches state laws that govern, regulate or invalidate association, conference or school rules on NIL compensation, transfers or eligibility, and § 121(a)(1) reaches state laws that conflict with the title in a way that would prevent compliance with it. On its text that describes South Carolina's bar on association penalties and on blocking third-party NIL agreements (§ 59-158-40(C)) and the rule that a school may not be compelled to disclose NIL information to an association (§ 59-158-50(B)). § 121(b) keeps, unless they conflict with § 121(a), Uniform Athlete Agent Acts (South Carolina's Chapter 102 is the Uniform Athlete Agents Act of 2018) and state contract, privacy and consumer protection law; it does not mention public records laws such as § 59-158-50(A) and (C). School pay under South Carolina law would sit beside § 101(c), which lets schools, conferences, collectives and third parties pay for NIL, and § 122 is neutral on employee status. The bill would add federal rules: Division I athletes report NIL agreements over $600 to the school and the association's designated entity within 5 days (§ 101(b)(1), (5)); agents on endorsement contracts register with a State, charge no more than 5 percent, against South Carolina's 20 percent cap, and sign no agency contract running past eligibility, with a private right of action (§ 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. South Carolina's athlete-agent rules are on the state-by-state registration table.
- High school. High school NIL in South Carolina 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 South Carolina
What is South Carolina's NIL law in 2026?
S.C. Code §§ 59-158-10 to 59-158-60. It was enacted by Act 35 of 2021, suspended for fiscal years 2022-23 and 2023-24 by budget provisos, rewritten by Act 207 of 2024 (in force 2024-05-21) and amended by Act 119 of 2026. It lets schools and their staff create and facilitate NIL opportunities, bars using appropriated funds for NIL pay, bans NIL deals for tobacco, alcohol, illegal substances, banned athletic substances and gambling, bars association and conference penalties for what the chapter allows, and keeps NIL contract records out of the public records law.
Can South Carolina colleges pay athletes directly?
The statute does not say so in terms. § 59-158-20(C) bars using a school's appropriated funds to pay athletes for NIL, and § 59-158-20(D) allows pay tied to participation or performance where association and school policy, a court order or a settlement agreement allows it. Since Act 119 of 2026, § 59-158-50(C) treats a school's "intercollegiate athletics revenue-sharing program" as something whose yearly total is public while per-athlete amounts are not.
Do I have to tell my school about an NIL deal in South Carolina?
Not under Chapter 158 since 2024-05-21; Act 207 dropped the 2021 rule requiring disclosure to the school before signing. If an athlete signs an agency contract with an agent for NIL work, § 59-102-110 has both the agent and the athlete notify the athletic director within 72 hours or before the next athletic event, whichever comes first. School policy, conference rules and, in Division I, NIL Go reporting are separate from state law.
Does South Carolina require an NIL agent to be licensed?
Registered. Chapter 158 defines an athlete agent as a person registered with the Department of Consumer Affairs, and an attorney acting as one must also be in good standing with a state bar (§ 59-158-10(1)). An NIL contract counts as an agency contract (§ 59-102-20(1)). A first registration costs $1,500 and lasts two years (§§ 59-102-90, 59-102-60(F)), the agent's fee on an NIL contract is capped at 20 percent (§ 59-102-100(H)), and the athlete may cancel within 14 days (§ 59-102-120).
Are NIL contracts and revenue-sharing payments public in South Carolina?
NIL contract documentation a school holds is not a public record (§ 59-158-50(A)). For revenue sharing, Act 119 of 2026 makes each school's total yearly spending public but exempts what any specific athlete or sport receives and keeps negotiation records and agreements confidential (§ 59-158-50(C)). Governor McMaster vetoed Act 119 on 2026-03-11, objecting to the per-sport exemption; the House and Senate overrode the veto on 2026-03-25 and 2026-04-01.
Be your own agent. Leave.
