CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The legislature is working on a pair of bills to align West Virginia with other states to offer greater opportunities for college athletes to benefit from their Name, Image and Likeness.
Two bills introduced in the House of Delegates would allow colleges and universities to establish a non-profit entity that could enter into contracts with student-athletes to compensate them through revenue sharing, NIL rights and facilitate other NIL opportunities.
“The universities and colleges across the state have to be able to compete and they have to be able to make sure their athletes and the institutions are protected. This bill will put into place some things that can and cannot be done by the institutions and by the athletes,” said House Education Committee Vice Chair Joe Statler, R-Monongalia.
HB 2572 establishes a framework for compensation and well as providing some restrictions. Athletes could not be compensated for NIL related to industries such as alcohol or adult entertainment. The NIL contracts would not qualify athletes as employees and would not impact scholarship status.
Companion legislation, HB 2595, authorizes institutions to establish the new non-profit entity for athletics, similarly structured to research corporations. The new organization will manage revenue sharing dollars and NIL opportunities.
The NCAA first allowed athletes to profit from NIL in 2021, opening the floodgates for player compensation. In October 2024, preliminary approval was granted for a settlement in the case House vs. NCAA. That settlement allows institutions to compensate athletes through revenue sharing.
“What it guarantees is protection in West Virginia should the settlement fall part or should the NCAA try to step in and block us from doing certain things. We do not believe the NCAA will do that. We believe they will change some of their policies once the settlement is finalized,” explained Travis Mollohan, Associate Vice President of Government Relations at WVU.
Mollohan anticipates WVU will be required to make about $20.5 million available to share with athletes. Those dollars would go to the new university controlled entity to be dispersed to athletes. At Marshall, that share of revenue to be shared is expected to be around $1.5 million.
By establishing a non-profit organization, institutions would also be able to keep information about NIL deals private, preventing other schools from simply outbidding West Virginia institutions for players.
“One of the things we’re concerned about in this competitive environment is larger schools can look and see what student-athletes are being paid and offer more money. This would allow us to keep that information confidential,” said Toney Stroud, Chief Legal Counsel for Marshall University.
The legislation has the support of both West Virginia and Marshall University.
The bills will be up for discussion and approval in the House Education Committee, then will be sent to the House Judiciary Committee for consideration.