Mississippi State athletics announced Monday it will be the first athletic department in the country to use the COMPASS NIL platform for student-athletes.
NIL legislation, approved by Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves on April 16, will allow college athletes the chance to profit off their own name, image and likeness. The bill takes effect July 1.
The COMPASS platform will provide athletes with education about the law, deal disclosure, and compliance monitoring tools, according to a news release Monday from Mississippi State. It is a product of CLC, a trademark licensing company, and Game Plan, a provider of athlete education.
“We’re looking forward to this partnership with CLC and Game Plan,” MSU Athletic Director John Cohen said in the release. “This will be an incredible resource to help educate our student-athletes and better position them not only for current success but also for life beyond college athletics.”
COMPASS will allow flexibility to adapt to NIL guidelines as they change with time, the release states.
“We are excited to partner with Mississippi State to deliver COMPASS to their student-athletes and staff to help prepare them for success in the NIL era,” CLC CEO Cory Moss said. “We designed COMPASS to be a fully-integrated tool to make it easy for student-athletes to receive NIL education and comply with reporting requirements, and we look forward to helping Mississippi State be a leader in the NIL space.”
Mississippi is one of five states to enact an NIL law that will become effective July 1. Georgia, New Mexico, Alabama and Florida are the others.
The NCAA has yet to act on the legislation, but president Mark Emmert wants to take action before or close to when the laws become effective, according to a report by the New York Times.
Mississippi State will begin implementing COMPASS during the summer semester.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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