Update to Montana NIL law would let universities oversee athlete payments under recent settlement

Senate Bill 271 would update Montana’s name-image-and-likeness (NIL) law to align state law with a recent national settlement and provide universities a mechanism to oversee and administer NIL arrangements on behalf of student athletes.

Senator Ellie Boldman, the sponsor from Missoula, told the committee the bill updates the state’s 2021 NIL law to reflect the House v. NCAA settlement and to allow universities to manage payments and oversight. “We just brought this update so that our Montana student athletes can continue to have the benefits and opportunities to make them competitive with all our neighboring states,” Boldman said in closing remarks.

Representatives of Montana State University and the University of Montana testified in support. Tracy Lehi, vice president of communications for Montana State University, said the change…