1. Definition of Name Image and Likeness:  Most simply, “name, image and likeness” are three elements that make up a legal concept known as “right of publicity.”

Right of publicity involves those situations where permission is required of a person to use their name, image or likeness. For example, no permission is required for a newspaper to publish a photo of an athlete playing in a game. The legal copyright would belong to the photographer, not the person pictured. However, permission would be required for a company to mention that someone endorses their product or services.
As an HCU student athlete, you have the ability to attract endorsement deals from sponsors with the opportunity to develop an audience and operate as an influencer either online or offline.
 

2. Overview of the Texas State Law:
   Effective July 1, 2021, the State of Texas through S.B. No. 1385 permits student-athletes to receive compensation for use of their name, image, and/or likeness in some situations. NIL legislation in the State of Texas was updated effective July 1, 2023, through H.B. 2804. The legislation requires the student-athlete to disclose in advance to the institution any proposed contracts/situations where the name, image, and/or likeness of the student-athlete may be used. All potential NIL agreements must be disclosed to the compliance office via Front Rush. The institution would then either approve, disclose the conflict which would make the proposed contract/situation impermissible, or request additional information. Questions regarding NIL and/or the permitted use of a students’ name, image and/or likeness should be directed to the compliance office. 
   Updated effective July 1, 2023, Texas’ NIL bill allows use of institutional property, apparel, logos, marks, etc., which can now be used permissibly with advanced authorized approval from the university. Please check with the Assistant Athletic Director for Compliance and Academics for approval. 
   In addition, the Texas bill requires that all student-athletes complete at a minimum five (5) hours of financial literacy education in their first year of enrollment at HCU. 

A full copy of the legislation can be found at: (https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/87R/billtext/html/SB01385I.htm)
 

3. Partnership with NOCAP Sports to provide you with services: The HCU Athletic Department is pleased to have formed a partnership with NOCAP Sports to help you with, and represent you in, this process. Below is a bit about NOCAP Sports (https://www.nocapsports.io/):

Get to Know NOCAP Sports

We believe that every athlete, regardless of school, sport, level and background, should have equal access to the best technology, resources, and endorsement opportunities to succeed in the new NIL era. That’s why NOCAP Sports was founded in 2020. Our platform bridges the gap between athletes, agents, brands and fans by offering the most comprehensive free to user and school name, image, and likeness solution in the market.

For Athletes

We are the only name, image, and likeness company to offer athletes a portal to major brands and companies eagerly looking to sign collegiate influencers at no cost to the athlete. Not only do NOCAP athletes receive exclusive access to some of the most lucrative brands and deal opportunities in the industry, we help athletes every step of the way. NOCAP’s industry-leading education partners teach every athlete financial literacy, social media, branding, entrepreneurship, trademarks & LLCs, and how to achieve financial freedom.

For Universities
NOCAP is an unbiased and open platform that athletes and schools can use without any contracts or fees while ensuring there is no conflict of interest and no institutional involvement. Our platform automates the monitoring of NCAA and university compliance rules to proactively protect every athletes’ eligibility and eliminate the compliance and documentation burden for everyone involved.

For Brands

Brands can grow their business by leveraging NOCAP Sports to source top-tier collegiate influencers, manage negotiations, draft contracts, and close deals all within our easy-to-use platform. We manage the deal cycle from start to finish, granting brands access to in-demand student athletes faster than ever before.

Student-Athlete Account Creation and Offline Deal Disclosure
Sign up and Profile Set Up:
1. Go to https://www.nocapsports.io
2. On main website, click on the “Athlete” bar and fill out credentials to create account (Name, email, password, etc.)
3. Click “Sign up”
4. When you land on dashboard, fill out all necessary information
a. Go to “Profile Information” section and fill out all fields
b. Go to “Pricing” section and fill out social pricing (suggested guidelines in
separate document)
c. Go to “Payment Methods” section and enter card or bank information so that you can receive payments
d. Go to “Pitch” section and write a short description of why businesses should work with you
e. Social connections – we are integrating tech platforms with our social media partner and very soon you will be able to connect and use all of your social media accounts on NOCAP and see your social analytics (followers, engagement rate, fair market value, etc).

Disclosing a deal:
1. Navigate to “Campaigns” section on the top menu bar
2. Click the red button that says “Add Offline Deal”
3. In step 1, fill out:
a. What is the title of this campaign?
b. What businesses/people are involved in this deal?
c. How are you being compensated for this deal (Cash, venmo, credit, etc)
4. In step 2, fill out:
a. Select the NIL activities that you are disclosing (Social media, appearance, etc)
b. Fill out the details of each activity (How many posts, dates of posts, etc)
5. In step 3, upload the content and specific details of the NIL activities you are disclosing
6. In step 4, fill out:
a. Total compensation
b. Are there any other benefits offered besides money?
c. When does contract/deal end?
d. What were the rights requested (just NIL or others too)?
e. Exclusive deal?
f. Do you have a personal relationship with the business involved in this proposal?
g. Are there any service providers involved in this deal?
7. Submit the information and an NCAA Disclosure Form will automatically populate with the information from the deal and the accounts of all the individuals involved. This disclosure form will be saved to the athlete profile and the school account.
 
Please contact us with any issues or questions!  Info@nocapsports.io

4. INFLCR 
   
   HCU and the Southland Conference have partnered with INFLCR, one of the leading content and compliance software platforms in college athletics. The main solutions INFLCR provides are brand-building tools, compliance assistance, and monetization opportunities for NIL. At the beginning of the academic year, each student-athlete will be sent an email from INFLCR to sign up for the platform, which is completely free to use. This will allow student-athletes access to all visual content (photos and videos) for theirsport uploaded by the Athletics Media Relations Office to share on social media accounts, with family, or for potential NIL opportunities. 
   
   If you have any questions about INFLCR, please contact the Athletics Media Relations Office. 
5. What you have to do before entering into a sponsorship agreement: Prior to entering an agreement for the use of their name, image, and/or likeness HCU student-athletes are required to disclose the proposed contract or opportunity through the Front Rush compliance software via the NIL Disclosure Approval Form.

• Student-athletes will log into their Front Rush accounts at https://www.frontrush.com/Roster/login/login.aspx, where they complete their beginning of year compliance forms, end of year compliance forms, employment forms, etc.
• In Front Rush, the student-athlete will go to the NIL Disclosure Approval Form, fill out the form, and then submit.
• The compliance office will review the completed NIL Disclosure Approval Form and either approve or disclose the conflict which would make the proposed contract/situation impermissible.

6. What we advise: We are very much in favor of you exercising your rights under this law but we very strongly advise you to get legal advice prior to entering into any contract with an advertiser or their representatives. We also very strongly advise that you be aware of any tax implications of such an arrangement. While we at HCU cannot assist you in any manner in these matters due to state and NCAA legislation, you are required to notify our athletic compliance office in advance of these arrangements such that you don’t jeopardize your athletic eligibility, and you are reminded that we can’t allow you to sign a contract with an entity that might be a competitor of one of our current sponsors or with any entity that represents tobacco products, e-cigarettes, gambling, alcohol, or firearms by state law. If you have any questions about any of this, please be sure to reach out to our compliance office for further guidance.