Attorney General Wilson takes action to enact state’s name, image, and likeness law

(COLUMBIA, S.C.) – July 1, 2021 - South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson today certified that the NCAA’s action to allow student-athletes to profit off their name, image, and likeness conforms to South Carolina’s new NIL law, which means the law goes into effect now instead of next year.

“The legislation ensures fairness to our athletes, which is a very good thing. The law should immediately go into effect,” Attorney General Wilson said. “This law provides guardrails to protect student-athletes so they can benefit financially without being taken advantage of.”

The NCAA policy, as well as the new state law, still prohibit compensation based upon enrollment in a particular school, compensation for work not performed, and institutions providing compensation to a student-athlete in exchange for the school’s use of the student-athlete’s NIL.

The South Carolina General Assembly passed the NIL bill this year and Gov. Henry McMaster signed it into law. The law says it would go into effect on July 1, 2022 unless the Attorney General certified that action by the NCAA conformed to the law, in which case the law would take effect upon the Attorney General’s certification.

You can read the Attorney General’s certification letter here.