The law
Wisconsin's college NIL law is Wis. Stat. § 36.11(12) and § 39.91 (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 any student who attends or has agreed to attend a University of Wisconsin System institution and participates or has agreed to participate in an intercollegiate athletic program. Technical colleges are not covered. At private nonprofit, accredited colleges headquartered in Wisconsin, only the employee-status rule in § 39.91 applies | 36.11(12)(a)2., 3.; 39.91(1) |
| Disclosure to the school | A student athlete discloses each third-party NIL agreement, in the manner the Board of Regents or the institution prescribes, before entering into it. No number of days is set | 36.11(12)(g) |
| Banned categories | An athlete may not enter an NIL agreement whose pay is in exchange for endorsing cigarettes, tobacco products, electronic vaping devices, alcohol beverages, gambling (including sports betting and casino gambling), banned athletic substances (including anabolic steroids), any illegal substance or activity, or any other activity the board proscribes. This is a statutory bar on the athlete, not only a school option | 36.11(12)(h)2.b. |
| Conflicts with team contracts | An athlete may not enter an NIL agreement if any provision conflicts with an agreement of the board or with a policy of the board, the institution or an intercollegiate athletic program. But neither the board nor an institution may adopt or enforce a policy that prohibits NIL use when the athlete is not engaged in official team activities, as the board defines them | 36.11(12)(h)1., (c)1. |
| School and coach involvement | The board may enter an affiliation agreement with a person to facilitate or assist with NIL opportunities and to manage NIL agreements and program revenue for athletes and the board. The board may not use general purpose revenue to create, facilitate, negotiate, support, assist with or otherwise enable NIL opportunities. A separate legal entity the board does not own or control does not act on behalf of the board when it pays an athlete for NIL. Coaches are not named | 36.11(12)(d), (j), (k) |
| Direct pay from the school | The Board of Regents "may enter into agreements providing for the compensation of student athletes" for NIL. That pay is not a financial aid grant under § 36.11(6). No NIL agreement may pay in exchange for athletic performance | 36.11(12)(b), (e), (h)2.a. |
| Agents and attorneys | The board and institutions may not prohibit an athlete from obtaining professional representation relating to NIL, "including representation by an agent or licensed attorney for legal matters". Athlete agents, including agents who negotiate endorsement contracts, register with the Department of Safety and Professional Services under the Uniform Athlete Agents Act. The department sets the fee (§ 440.03(9)(a); Wis. Admin. Code SPS 151.02(2), 151.07(1)); neither the statute nor the rules state an amount, and the department's fee schedule lists $38 to apply and $38 to renew. Registration lasts two years and renews July 1 of even-numbered years, the athlete may cancel within 14 days, and agent and athlete notify the athletic director within 72 hours or before the next scheduled athletic event, whichever is first | 36.11(12)(c)2.; 440.99(1); 440.991; 440.992(6); 440.03(9)(a); 440.08(2)(a)14d.; 440.9945(1r), (2); 440.995 |
| High school and minors | Not addressed in § 36.11(12), which covers UW System students. The agent act also covers interscholastic athletes; for a minor, the parent or guardian signs the agency contract | 440.99(11); 440.994(6) |
| Financial literacy | Not addressed | None |
| Scholarship protection | Not addressed as a protection. The act says NIL pay under the subsection is not a grant under § 36.11(6), the board's financial aid authority | 36.11(12)(e) |
| Confidentiality of contracts | "To protect competitive interests and student privacy", records held by the board, an institution or a board subunit about any term or detail of an NIL agreement or proposed agreement, and about the generation, deployment or allocation of athletic program revenue kept secret for competitive reasons, are not subject to public inspection, copying or disclosure under § 19.35. Agent notices to a school are also exempt | 36.11(12)(i); 440.9945(7) |
| NCAA and conference penalties | Not addressed. The act defines "athletic association or conference" but contains no rule barring an association or conference from penalizing a school or athlete over NIL | 36.11(12)(a)1. |
| Remedies and enforcement | Not addressed for NIL; no private right of action or enforcing agency is named. For agents, a school or athlete may sue for damages and attorney fees, a violation is an unfair trade practice under § 100.20, the department may assess a forfeiture up to $50,000, and prohibited conduct carries a fine up to $10,000, up to 9 months in jail, or both | 440.9965; 440.997; 440.9975 |
| Employee status | A student athlete who enters an NIL agreement under § 36.11(12) is not an employee of the UW System because of the agreement; § 39.91 says the same for athletes at private nonprofit, accredited colleges headquartered in Wisconsin | 36.11(12)(f); 39.91(2) |
How Act 203 became law
Wisconsin had no college NIL statute before 2026. Assembly Bill 1034 was introduced on 2026-02-10 and passed the Assembly 95-1 on 2026-02-19 with Assembly Amendment 1, which added the private-college employee rule (§ 39.91). The Senate concurred 17-16 on 2026-03-17. Governor Evers signed it on 2026-04-08 with a partial veto, it was published on 2026-04-09, and it took effect on 2026-04-10, per the Legislative Council's act memo. No override of the partial veto was voted: the bill was among the partially vetoed bills still in the Assembly when the veto review floorperiod adjourned on 2026-05-13, so under Joint Rule 82 the partial veto was sustained, recorded as "failed to pass notwithstanding the objections of the Governor".
The partial veto did not touch the NIL provisions. The governor's message says it removed references to "maintenance" from three new athletic-facility appropriations, which the message lists as $14.6 million a year in general purpose revenue for UW-Madison and $200,000 a year each for the UW-Milwaukee Klotsche Center and the UW-Green Bay Phoenix Sports Center and Athletic Field Complex, and that the funding is meant to pay existing debt service.
Bills that did not pass
- 2023 Assembly Bill 1048 and Senate Bill 939 would have created NIL rules for the UW System, technical colleges and private colleges in new §§ 36.39, 38.25 and 39.43, including a bar on institutions paying athletes for NIL. Neither had a committee vote, and both failed to pass under Senate Joint Resolution 1 on 2024-04-15.
- 2025 Senate Bill 1075, the Senate companion to AB 1034, failed to pass under Senate Joint Resolution 1 on 2026-03-23 after AB 1034 had moved instead.
- The Legislature's 2021-22 subject index of legislation lists no bill on name, image, and likeness, and its 2025-26 index (period ending 2026-10-21) lists only AB 1034 and SB 1075.
Agents in Wisconsin
Wisconsin's agent law is the Uniform Athlete Agents Act (§§ 440.99 to 440.9985), enacted by 2003 Wisconsin Act 150, revised by 2019 Wisconsin Act 180 and administered by the Department of Safety and Professional Services. An agent may not act in Wisconsin without a certificate of registration (§ 440.991), must use a written contract stating fees and duration with a boldface eligibility warning (§ 440.994), and must give the athletic director notice before contacting an enrolled athlete and within 72 hours of signing (§ 440.9945). A contract made in violation of the registration rule is void (§ 440.991(3)).
How it changed
| Act | What it did | Effective |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 Wisconsin Act 203 (2025 Assembly Bill 1034) | created § 36.11(12): the UW Board of Regents may enter agreements to pay student athletes for NIL, athletes disclose third-party deals before signing, no deals that conflict with board or school policy or pay for athletic performance or for endorsing tobacco, vaping, alcohol, gambling or banned substances, no general purpose revenue to create NIL opportunities, NIL agreement terms closed to public records requests, athletes not employees; created § 39.91 (same employee rule at private nonprofit colleges); signed with a partial veto on 2026-04-08 that changed only athletic-facility appropriation wording, published 2026-04-09; the partial veto was sustained when the veto review floorperiod adjourned on 2026-05-13 with no override | 2026-04-10 |
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; it is not law. If enacted as passed, § 121(a)(2) covers state laws that govern, regulate or invalidate the NIL compensation rules of an institution, a conference or an association. Wisconsin's act mostly governs its own university system rather than the NCAA, but on its text § 121(a)(2)(A) describes § 36.11(12)(c) (limits on board and institution policy); whether it also reaches the athlete-side bars in § 36.11(12)(h), which are written as state law rather than as school rules, is less clear. Board pay under § 36.11(12)(b) matches § 101(c), subject to the revenue share cap (§ 114), and § 122 says the bill is neutral on employee status, the subject of § 36.11(12)(f) and § 39.91. § 121(b) keeps "Uniform Athlete Agent Acts", which covers Wisconsin's agent subchapter (§§ 440.99 to 440.9985), and state privacy law; it does not name public-records exemptions like § 36.11(12)(i). The bill would add a duty to report the terms of each NIL agreement worth more than $600 (counting payments from the same entity over 12 months) within 5 days of signing, and NIL pay over $600 not already reported within 30 days of receiving it, to the school and to the athletic association or its designated entity, limited by § 101(b)(5) to athletes at Division I schools (§ 101(b)(1), (5)); a rule that NIL agreements other than those with the school be for a valid business purpose (§ 114(d)), and a 5% agent fee cap on endorsement contracts (§ 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. Wisconsin's athlete-agent rules are on the state-by-state registration table.
- High school. High school NIL in Wisconsin 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 Wisconsin
What is Wisconsin's NIL law in 2026?
Wis. Stat. § 36.11(12), created by 2025 Wisconsin Act 203 (Assembly Bill 1034) and in force since 2026-04-10, plus § 39.91 for private colleges. It lets the UW Board of Regents pay athletes for NIL, requires athletes to disclose third-party deals before signing, bars deals paying for performance or endorsing tobacco, vaping, alcohol, gambling or banned substances, closes NIL agreement terms to public records requests, and says NIL deals do not make athletes employees.
Can Wisconsin colleges pay athletes directly?
The UW System can. § 36.11(12)(b) says the Board of Regents "may enter into agreements providing for the compensation of student athletes for use of the student athletes' name, image, or likeness", and § 36.11(12)(e) says that pay is not a financial aid grant. No agreement may pay in exchange for athletic performance (§ 36.11(12)(h)2.a.). The act does not address pay by technical colleges or private colleges.
Do I have to tell my school about an NIL deal in Wisconsin?
At a UW System school, yes. § 36.11(12)(g) says a student athlete discloses each third-party NIL agreement, in the manner the board or the institution prescribes, before entering into it. Division I athletes also report deals of $600 or more through NIL Go within five business days under NCAA Bylaw 22.2.2 (timing in Bylaw 22.2.2.2), which is an NCAA rule.
Does Wisconsin require an NIL agent to be licensed?
Wisconsin requires athlete agents to register with the Department of Safety and Professional Services (§ 440.991), and an agency contract under the law includes one to negotiate endorsement contracts (§ 440.99(1)). Registration lasts two years (§ 440.992(6)); the department sets the fee (§ 440.03(9)(a)), and its fee schedule lists $38 to apply and $38 to renew. The athlete may cancel an agency contract within 14 days (§ 440.995). UW schools may not bar an athlete from hiring an agent or a licensed attorney for NIL (§ 36.11(12)(c)2.).
Are NIL contracts public records in Wisconsin?
Not at the UW System. § 36.11(12)(i) says records held by the board, an institution or a board subunit about any term or detail of an NIL agreement or proposed agreement are not subject to public inspection, copying or disclosure under the open records law, § 19.35. The same applies to records on the generation, deployment or allocation of athletic program revenue that are kept secret for competitive reasons.
What NIL deals are banned in Wisconsin?
For UW System athletes, § 36.11(12)(h) bars an NIL agreement that conflicts with a board, institution or team policy or agreement, or that pays in exchange for athletic performance or for endorsing cigarettes, tobacco, electronic vaping devices, alcohol, gambling (including sports betting and casino gambling), banned athletic substances, any illegal substance or activity, or any other activity the Board of Regents proscribes.
Be your own agent. Leave.
