NIL law in Georgia — HB 617 and the rules every Bulldog and Yellow Jacket signs under

State: Georgia (GA)

Last reviewed 2026-05-18

[Reviewed by Darren Heitner or contracted NIL counsel — TBD]

Statute — in force

Georgia HB 617 (2021) is the state's NIL statute. It applies to every Georgia postsecondary institution and sets the framework for athletes at Georgia, Georgia Tech, Georgia State, and the rest of the SEC and Sun Belt programs in the state.

Statute citation

Georgia Student-Athlete NIL Act

HB 617 — O.C.G.A. § 20-3-680 et seq.

Enacted 2021 — effective 2021-07-01

Authorizes Georgia postsecondary student-athletes to earn compensation for the use of their name, image, or likeness, sets institutional disclosure obligations, and restricts categorically prohibited endorsements.

Read the statute on the official source

What the law actually says

Georgia HB 617 was signed by Governor Brian Kemp on May 6, 2021 and became effective on July 1, 2021. It is codified at O.C.G.A. § 20-3-680 et seq. The statute lets student-athletes earn NIL compensation, requires written contracts, and obliges athletes to disclose NIL agreements to the institution. The bill expressly preserves the institution's authority to set categorical restrictions and conduct standards, and it permits institutions to require the use of a specific platform or process for disclosure. Compensation cannot be a recruiting inducement, and the statute does not allow institutions to pay athletes directly for NIL. Georgia's framework was drafted with Georgia and Georgia Tech in mind — two flagship programs with deep institutional sponsorship inventories and operationally distinct conferences (SEC and ACC). The statute is intentionally light on prescriptive operational detail and heavy on preserving institutional discretion, which means the school's NIL policy is the binding text in most day-to-day situations.

Allowed NIL activities

Endorsement and influencer deals with permitted brand categories.
Group licensing, autograph signings, and athlete-run camps or clinics.
Hiring an agent or attorney for NIL representation.
Use of NIL in athlete-owned media, podcasts, and apparel — subject to school marks rules.
Compensation for personal appearances and speaking engagements.

Restricted or prohibited NIL activities

NIL compensation conditioned on attendance at a particular school.
Endorsements of alcohol, tobacco, controlled substances, adult entertainment, and gambling (including sports wagering).
Use of school marks, logos, or uniforms without an institutional license.
Contracts that materially conflict with the institution's existing sponsorship roster.
NIL activity in violation of the school's codified conduct standards.

How individual schools layer their own policies

Georgia and Georgia Tech operate full institutional NIL policies on top of HB 617. The University of Georgia in particular has a deep sponsorship inventory that creates more conflict-of-interest reviews than at smaller programs. Athletes signing in Georgia should expect both the statute and a multi-page institutional policy to bind the deal.

University of Georgia

UGA uses a disclosure platform and reviews NIL agreements against the school's sponsorship roster and SEC institutional standards. Use of UGA marks is licensed separately, and athletes are expected to surface category conflicts before signing.

Georgia Tech

Georgia Tech's policy adds ACC institutional standards on top of HB 617. The school maintains its own list of prohibited categories that can be tighter than the statute and reviews NIL agreements against existing athletic department contracts.

How RevU covers Georgia

RevU's analysis surfaces the issues Georgia compliance offices actually flag: scope of exclusivity vs. school sponsors, disclosure language that does not align with the school platform, and morality clauses calibrated to brand rather than to school conduct standards. RevU treats Georgia deals as SEC / ACC institutional reviews, not just statutory ones. The engine pulls the relevant HB 617 framing into the same view as the school-policy and conference-standards layer, so an athlete or rep can see at a glance which clauses cross which line. See /methodology for the engine's reasoning, and /for-athletes for the workflow built specifically for athletes signing into a Power-conference Georgia program.

RevU is a software tool, not a law firm. The output is meant to make the conversation with your attorney more efficient — not to replace it. For binding legal advice on a Georgia NIL contract, engage a licensed attorney in your state.

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