Proposal to protect young Georgia athletes from ‘street agents’ appears to be sidelined

House lawmakers are attempting to protect student athletes from eighth grade onward from potential predatory deals with agents, although a bill designed to bolster name, image and likeness rules may be ensnared in election-year politics.  The Georgia High School NIL Protection Act passed the House unanimously in February. The bill is sponsored by Rep. Brent […]

House lawmakers are attempting to protect student athletes from eighth grade onward from potential predatory deals with agents, although a bill designed to bolster name, image and likeness rules may be ensnared in election-year politics. 

The Georgia High School NIL Protection Act passed the House unanimously in February. The bill is sponsored by Rep. Brent Cox, a Dawsonville Republican, who said he worked closely with the Georgia High School Association, which oversees school sports for Georgia’s public and private high schools,  in drafting the bipartisan bill.

“It codifies the rules that we have for NIL in place now,” said association lobbyist Robin Hines.

The state’s high school association introduced its own name, image and likeness guidelines in October 2023, becoming one of 45 states to do so. 

Hines, who previously served as the executive director of the state high school association for over seven years, said people often confuse high school name, image and likeness with the controversial NIL rules in college.

“They’re paying players,” Hines said of the college-level rules. “You can’t be paid to play in high school, and you can’t be paid to transfer.”

Currently, only about 100 high school student athletes in Georgia have signed name, image and likeness deals, and Hines said the majority of them “are to get a pair of batting gloves, or a sleeve or a meal at the local restaurant.” However, Georgia is home to two top 10 football recruits, including the nation’s top player in the class of 2027, and a top 15 basketball recruit, so legislators are motivated to get ahead of what could be a fast-changing NIL landscape.

The new addition that lawmakers are attempting to put into state code are guidelines for potential contracts signed in high school between Georgia student athletes and sports agents that could follow the athletes into their post-high school career.

The bill would “dissolve” contracts between student athletes and these agents either 10 days after the student graduated or a month after they legally left the school they were attending.

“We put a sunset so when they graduated high school or went on to the professional level, those contracts just ended, and they had to re-negotiate,” Cox said. 

Both Cox and Hines cited the same case when advocating for what they said they see as protection for young student athletes. They said that there is a current “high profile” quarterback in the state “that is signed with an SEC school” who was approached by an agent for a partnership that would pay the agent 10% of whatever the athlete was to earn later in college.

“If they would have signed that contract and this bill’s not in place, then a $1 million deal would have become $900,000,” Cox said. 

Cox and Hines say high school student athletes do not need agents. 

“They’ve got people at the colleges that do that, so it’s not needed,” Hines said, adding that a potential contract signed in high school could be indefinite.

Cox said these people who seek to represent minors for NIL contracts are called “street agents.” According to an ESPN article, some of these agents are not certified as agents or even lawyers. 

But Cox’s bill has stalled in the Senate, where it was assigned to an inactive committee. The bill is sitting in the Interstate Cooperation Committee, despite coming from the House Education Committee. The Senate committee is currently without a chairman following the resignation of Sen. Colton Moore in January.

Cox, who endorsed Rick Jackson for governor in early February, said he has “no idea” why the bill was assigned to the Interstate Cooperation Committee when asked this week. But the situation is unfolding as the race for governor has intensified. Early voting for the May 19 primary starts later this month. 

If the proposal does not pass this session, it will effectively die as it is the end of the current two-year legislative cycle. Cox said he does not see the NIL Protection Act moving forward “unless they can get Colton Moore to come back and become chairman again.”

Kayla Lott, Jones’ campaign spokesperson, said the committee assignment wasn’t about politics. She said other bills sponsored by Cox and Republicans who have endorsed Jackson for governor are “actively moving through the legislative process.”

“While these Representatives are busy chasing headlines, Lt. Governor Burt Jones is focused on what actually matters: getting things done for Georgians and respecting the office he serves,” Lott said. 

Georgia Recorder reporter Alander Rocha contributed to this report.

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