If one wanted to contact a player about an NIL deal to promote a business, does the school have an office or person to run requests through? Or just straight to the player via Instagram or whatever?

Per state law, all NIL deals must be disclosed to the university prior to entering the contract. And while it wouldn't be against the rules just to reach out to a student-athlete on your own, I would HIGHLY caution against it. Instead, it would be best to go through Texas A&M Athletics in order to ensure that you don't inadvertently violate any rules that would put the student-athlete or the university at risk of sanctions. Since NIL is still officially against NCAA rules, it is critically important that we follow state law to a tee so that we do not open our school up to NCAA sanctions. Potential penalties for Texas A&M and the involved student-athlete(s) are severe, including probation, reduction in number of scholarships, and ineligibility for the impacted student-athlete.

Luckily, Texas A&M just recently hired Jamie Wood as our new Assistant Athletics Director, NIL. Jamie, along with the athletics compliance department, can tell you the steps you need to take, review any potential NIL contracts, and get you into contact with specific student-athletes. Here would be the emails to contact:

nil@athletics.tamu.edu
compliance@athletics.tamu.edu


Also, just for your knowledge, here is some of what H.B. 2804 says can/can't be in NIL contracts:

Per state law, a student athlete may not enter into an NIL contract if:

• "Any provision of the contract conflicts with a provision of the student athlete's team contract, a provision of an institutional contract of the institution, a policy of the athletic department of the institution, or a provision of the honor code of the institution;
• The compensation for the use of the student athlete's name, image, or likeness is provided in exchange for athletic performance or accepting an offer of admission to attend [Texas A&M University, or] in exchange for an act that occurs while the athlete is engaged in an official team activity
• in exchange for an endorsement of alcohol, tobacco products, e-cigarettes or any other type of nicotine delivery device, anabolic steroids, sports betting, casino gambling, a firearm the student athlete cannot legally purchase, or a sexually oriented business as defined in Section 243.002, Local Government Code
• the duration of the contract extends beyond the student athlete's participation in the intercollegiate athletic program"

Other things to know:

• Collegiate student-athletes "may earn compensation from selling the student athlete's autograph in a manner that does not otherwise conflict with a provision of" House Bill 2804
• Student-athletes "may not use an institution's facility, uniform, registered trademark, copyright-protected product, or official logo, mark, or other indicia in connection with a contract for the use of the student athlete's name, image, or likeness unless the student athlete obtains the institution's express permission."

This is not an exhaustive list, and so I would highly recommend reading the full text of the bill if you haven't already. Full Text of House Bill 2804: https://legiscan.com/TX/text/HB2804/id/2813374

Keep in mind NCAA rules are specifically aimed at "boosters" so if you think you might fall in that category Pylon Cam's advice is especially relevant.