The law
Virginia's college NIL law is Va. Code § 23.1-408.1 (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 enrolled at an institution who participates in intercollegiate athletics. "Institution" covers private colleges, public two-year (associate-degree-granting) colleges and public four-year colleges. Scholarships covering cost of attendance and benefits allowed by association or conference rules are not "compensation". Recruits not yet enrolled are not named | 23.1-408.1(A) |
| Disclosure to the school | Before executing an NIL agreement, the athlete discloses it to the school "in a manner designated by the institution". No number of days is set. If the proposed deal conflicts with an existing school agreement, the school discloses the relevant terms of that agreement to the athlete | 23.1-408.1(I) |
| Banned categories | A state ban, not a school option: no student-athlete may earn NIL pay in connection with alcohol; adult entertainment; cannabis and its derivatives (not hemp); controlled substances; performance enhancing drugs; drug paraphernalia; tobacco, nicotine and vapor products; weapons, including firearms and ammunition; or casinos and gambling, including sports betting | 23.1-408.1(F)(1) to (9) |
| Conflicts with team contracts | A school may bar NIL pay during academic, official team or athletic department activities (class, practice, competition, travel, promotional activities and the like), and may bar a use that conflicts with an existing school agreement or its board-approved NIL policies. A school may not enter, renew or modify an agreement that bars NIL pay during non-academic, unofficial team or non-athletic department activities | 23.1-408.1(G), (J), (K) |
| School and coach involvement | Associations and conferences may not stop a school, its supporting foundations or an entity acting for it from identifying, creating, negotiating, facilitating, supporting or otherwise enabling NIL deals. A school may give assets, resources or benefits as incentives to people or companies that support an outside NIL entity. Athletes may use school facilities, uniforms, logos and marks only if the school permits. Coaches are not named | 23.1-408.1(C)(5), (E), (H) |
| Direct pay from the school | No association, conference or similar body may "prevent an institution from compensating a student-athlete" for NIL. Each school develops NIL compensation policies approved by its governing board, may enforce them, and may not use student fees to pay athletes for NIL | 23.1-408.1(C)(4), (D) |
| Agents and attorneys | Schools and associations may not stop an athlete from hiring an athlete agent or a Virginia-licensed attorney for NIL matters. The section's "athlete agent" is someone registered under Va. Code 54.1-526 et seq., whose definition includes anyone who "represents a student-athlete in connection with issues related to name, image, or likeness". Registration is with the Director of the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation, for one or two years at $700 or $1,150 (the statute's fees, which DPOR's current application form lists; no athlete agent regulation was found in 18VAC120); the athlete may cancel an agency contract within 14 days. No percentage fee cap | 23.1-408.1(A), (B)(2); 54.1-526; 54.1-528; 54.1-530(F); 54.1-533; 54.1-536 |
| High school and minors | The section covers enrolled college athletes only. High school NIL is a separate section, § 22.1-212.2:4 (2024 Acts ch. 694). For a minor, the athlete agent act has the parent or guardian sign the agency contract | 23.1-408.1(A); 22.1-212.2:4; 54.1-534(G) |
| Financial literacy | Not addressed | None |
| Scholarship protection | No school or association may reduce, cancel, revoke or not renew an athletic scholarship because an athlete earns NIL pay or hires an athlete agent or attorney for NIL | 23.1-408.1(B)(4) |
| Confidentiality of contracts | Not addressed for NIL contracts; no NIL exemption was found in the Virginia FOIA records exemptions for schools (§ 2.2-3705.4). Since 2026-07-01, a school may not disclose an enrolled athlete's biometric data outside the school without prior written consent, and no one may make rights to that data a condition of an NIL contract without separate written consent | 23.1-408.2(B), (C) |
| NCAA and conference penalties | No association, conference or similar body may bar a school from membership or competition over athletes' NIL pay or representation; entertain a complaint, open an investigation or take other adverse action against a school, its foundations or an entity acting for it for activity the section permits; or penalize a school or athlete because a booster or collective broke its NIL rules. Schools and associations may not declare an athlete ineligible over NIL pay or representation | 23.1-408.1(B)(3), (C)(1) to (3) |
| Remedies and enforcement | An athlete aggrieved by a school's or association's violation may sue for injunctive relief. A school, its foundations or an entity acting for it that faces an actual or threatened complaint, investigation or penalty for permitted activity may sue for actual damages, reasonable attorney fees, an injunction and other remedies. School and foundation employees are not liable for damages from routine athletics decisions. Each school may enforce its approved policies and the section | 23.1-408.1(D), (M), (N), (O) |
| Employee status | Nothing in the section affects an athlete's employment status or qualifies an athlete as a school employee "solely because" of NIL activity. The 2022 sentence that no athlete "shall be considered an employee" for participating in athletics was removed in 2024 | 23.1-408.1(L) |
What changed in 2024
The 2022 law (HB 507 and SB 223, signed 2022-04-11) protected athletes' NIL pay and representation but said little about schools. HB 1505, enacted as 2024 Acts ch. 837 after the General Assembly accepted the Governor's recommendation on 2024-04-17, turned subsection C into a list of five things associations and conferences may not do, including entertaining a complaint or opening an investigation against a school, its foundation or an entity acting for it, and preventing a school from paying athletes for NIL. It added the board-approval rule for school NIL policies and the bar on student fees (subsection D), let schools reward donors and companies who support outside NIL entities (subsection E), and gave schools a damages and attorney-fee claim against an association that threatens or penalizes them (subsection O). It took effect 2024-07-01, about a year before the court approved the House settlement on 2025-06-06.
Biometric data, 2026
HB 971, approved 2026-04-06 as 2026 Acts ch. 247 and effective 2026-07-01, added § 23.1-408.2. "Biometric data" includes DNA, face, iris, fingerprint and voice templates, gait and keystroke patterns, and sleep, health or exercise data that contain identifying information. A school may not disclose an enrolled athlete's biometric data outside the school without prior written consent, and no person or company may make rights to an athlete's biometric data a condition of an NIL contract unless the athlete consents in a writing separate from that contract.
Bills that did not pass
- SB 678 (2024 session). A rewrite of § 23.1-408.1 reported from Senate Education and Health, continued to 2025 in Finance and Appropriations, and left there on 2024-11-19.
- HB 2374 (2025). Would have repealed the athlete agent act (§§ 54.1-526 to 54.1-542) and amended § 23.1-408.1, the high school NIL section and sections of the Virginia Consumer Protection Act; a subcommittee recommended striking it from the docket, and it was left in House General Laws on 2025-02-05.
- HB 1099 (2026). Would have the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia convene a work group on best practices for NIL deal transparency; continued to the 2027 session in House Education on 2026-02-04.
Virginia v. the NCAA
Tennessee and Virginia, later joined by Florida, New York and the District of Columbia, sued the NCAA in federal court in Tennessee (State of Tennessee v. NCAA, No. 3:24-cv-33, E.D. Tenn.) over the NCAA's rules barring NIL talks during recruiting. The court entered a preliminary injunction against those rules on 2024-02-23, and on 2025-03-21 it entered a consent judgment and permanent injunction: the NCAA may not enforce its "NIL Recruiting Ban" against prospective athletes, athletes in the transfer portal, third parties or schools, may not retaliate against the plaintiff states or their schools, and for five years must post proposed Division I NIL rule changes at least 30 days before a final vote.
How it changed
| Act | What it did | Effective |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 Acts ch. 510 (HB 507) and ch. 638 (SB 223), identical | added § 23.1-408.1 (NIL pay and representation allowed, scholarship and eligibility protected, nine banned categories, disclosure to the school before signing, team-contract conflicts, injunctive relief) and added NIL representation to the definition of "athlete agent" in § 54.1-526 | 2022-07-01 |
| 2024 Acts ch. 837 (HB 1505) | barred associations and conferences from complaints, investigations or penalties against schools, foundations and collectives for permitted activity, from stopping a school paying athletes for NIL (C 4) or enabling NIL deals (C 5); required board-approved school NIL policies with no student fees for NIL pay (D); let schools give incentives to outside NIL entities (E); employee liability shield (N); damages and fees for schools (O); rewrote the employee-status sentence (L) | 2024-07-01 |
| 2026 Acts ch. 247 (HB 971) | added § 23.1-408.2: a school may not disclose an athlete's biometric data outside the school without written consent, and no one may make rights to an athlete's biometric data a condition of an NIL contract without separate written consent | 2026-07-01 |
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 later action in the bill status record; it is not law. If enacted as passed, § 121(a)(2) covers state laws that govern, regulate or invalidate association, conference or school rules on NIL pay, transfers or eligibility. On its text that describes Virginia's limits on associations and conferences in § 23.1-408.1(B)(1) to (3) and (C)(1) to (5), and the injunction and damages routes that enforce them (subsections M and O). § 121(b) keeps, unless they conflict with § 121(a), Uniform Athlete Agent Acts and state privacy, contract, consumer protection, trademark and copyright law: Virginia's athlete agent act (Va. Code 54.1-526 et seq.) and the biometric data rule (§ 23.1-408.2) fall in those categories. School pay under board-approved policies (subsection D) lines up with § 101(c), subject to the revenue share cap in § 114. S. 4668 would add a report to the school and the athletic association (or an entity it designates) within 5 days of signing an NIL agreement worth more than $600, for athletes at Division I schools only (§ 101(b)(1), (5)), next to Virginia's before-signing disclosure, and a 5% cap on agent fees for endorsement contracts (§ 102). § 122 is neutral on employee status.
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. Virginia's athlete-agent rules are on the state-by-state registration table.
- High school. High school NIL in Virginia 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 Virginia
What is Virginia's NIL law in 2026?
Va. Code § 23.1-408.1, enacted in 2022 (Acts chs. 510 and 638, effective 2022-07-01) and expanded by 2024 Acts ch. 837 (HB 1505, effective 2024-07-01). It protects athletes' NIL pay and representation, bars nine categories of deals, requires disclosure to the school before signing, bars associations and conferences from stopping a school paying its athletes for NIL or penalizing schools for activity the section permits, and requires board-approved school NIL policies. A 2026 law, § 23.1-408.2, adds limits on biometric data in NIL contracts.
Can Virginia colleges pay athletes directly?
Virginia law protects it. § 23.1-408.1(C)(4) says no athletic association, conference or similar body may "prevent an institution from compensating a student-athlete" for NIL, and subsection D requires each school's NIL compensation policies to be approved by its board of visitors or similar body. Subsection D also says no student fees may be used to pay athletes for NIL.
Do I have to tell my school about an NIL deal in Virginia?
§ 23.1-408.1(I) says that before executing an NIL agreement, a student-athlete discloses it to the school "in a manner designated by the institution". The statute sets no number of days. If the deal conflicts with an existing school agreement, the school discloses the conflicting terms, and it may bar the conflicting use (subsection J). Division I deals of $600 or more are also reported to NIL Go under NCAA rules, which is separate from Virginia law.
Does Virginia require an NIL agent to be licensed?
Virginia requires registration. Since 2022, the definition of "athlete agent" in Va. Code § 54.1-526 includes anyone who represents a student-athlete on NIL issues, including negotiating or managing NIL deals, and § 54.1-528 bars acting as an athlete agent in Virginia without a certificate of registration from the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation. The fee is $700 for one year or $1,150 for two (§ 54.1-533), and an athlete may cancel an agency contract within 14 days (§ 54.1-536). A 2025 bill to deregulate athlete agents (HB 2374) failed.
What NIL deals are banned in Virginia?
§ 23.1-408.1(F) says no student-athlete shall earn NIL pay in connection with alcohol, adult entertainment, cannabis (not hemp), controlled substances, performance enhancing drugs, drug paraphernalia, tobacco and nicotine products, weapons including firearms and ammunition, or casinos and gambling including sports betting. Schools may add limits through board-approved policies and conflicts with school agreements (subsections D and J).
Be your own agent. Leave.
