How do you become a registered athlete agent in Mississippi?

Register with the Mississippi Secretary of State before acting - $200 for everything (initial, reciprocal, renewal) plus actual background-check costs, two-year term, no bond. Mississippi runs a Revised-UAAA-family act (effective April 27, 2011, since amended for NIL) whose definitions fold NIL in: 'agency contract' expressly covers endorsement contracts and 'compensation for the use of the student-athlete's publicity rights', with agent fees capped at 20%. High school athletes are reached only through the 'may be eligible in the future' clause - i.e., in the college-recruiting context. Uniquely, the required contract warning carves out NIL: the eligibility-loss warning is disapplied when the contract serves as a publicity-rights agreement under Mississippi's NIL statute. Prohibited conduct is a felony: up to $10,000 and two years.

Mississippi Athlete Agent Registration & Law

Registration at a glance

Registration required

Yes

Registering body

Mississippi Secretary of State

Fee

$200 flat - initial, reciprocal, renewal, or reciprocal renewal - plus actual criminal-background-check costs (§ 73-42-17)

Term

2 years

Surety bond

No

Covers high school athletes

Yes

Reaches NIL / marketing-only reps

Yes

Prescribed contract warning

Yes

How to register

Apply to the Mississippi Secretary of State - $200 plus background-check costs
7-day grace window: you may act (except signing) after athlete-initiated contact while your application goes in (§ 73-42-7)
BEFORE first contacting the athlete or listed family members: written notice to the institution (§ 73-42-21(1)) - a pre-contact duty most states don't have
Include the prescribed warning (§ 73-42-19(3)) - note its NIL carve-out
After signing: both agent and athlete separately notify the athletic director within 72 hours or before the next event (§ 73-42-21(2)-(3))
Renew every two years, $200

Official registration page: Mississippi Secretary of State

Renewal: Valid two years (§ 73-42-11(7))

Contract & notification requirements

Prescribed verbatim WARNING TO STUDENT-ATHLETE (§ 73-42-19(3)) - including the explicit carve-out: eligibility-loss warning does not apply where the contract 'IS SERVING AS A PUBLICITY RIGHTS AGREEMENT PURSUANT TO SECTION 37-97-103'
Agent compensation capped at 20% (agency contract definition)
14-day non-waivable cancellation (§ 73-42-23)
PRE-CONTACT written notice to the institution before first contact (§ 73-42-21(1))

School notification required

Yes

Athlete cancellation right

14 days, non-waivable (§ 73-42-23)

What the statute is silent on

Silence is not permission and not prohibition — the statute simply does not address these.

a Louisiana-style NIL-agent certification carve-out (none exists)
surety bond (confirmed absent across §§ 73-42-7 to -17)

Penalties

§ 73-42-29 (verbatim, in full): "The commission of any act prohibited by Section 73-42-27 by an athlete agent is a felony punishable by a fine of not more than Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00) or by imprisonment of not more than two (2) years, or both."

§ 73-42-33 (verbatim, in full): "The Secretary of State may assess a civil penalty against an athlete agent not to exceed Twenty-five Thousand Dollars ($25,000.00) for a violation of this chapter."

Civil action (§ 73-42-31) belongs to the EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION, not the athlete.

Stated as the statute states it. Read the cited section before relying on this.

Statute

Miss. Code Ann. §§ 73-42-1 to 73-42-39 (Uniform Athlete Agent Act, revised act eff. April 27, 2011; NIL cross-reference to § 37-97-103 added by a later amendment whose session-law citation is unresolved)

'Student-athlete' (§ 73-42-3(l)) covers one who 'may be eligible in the future to engage in ... any intercollegiate sport' - the SoS's own page confirms: 'the Act now includes high school athletes and their scholarship negotiations with a prospective university or college.' HS reach exists but ONLY via the future-college clause - narrower than Louisiana's, which names high school directly. Do not overstate.

NIL interaction

NIL is built into the core definitions ('endorsement contract', 'publicity rights') with the 20% fee cap applying, and the warning's NIL carve-out draws an explicit statutory line between pro-agency contracts and publicity-rights agreements under § 37-97-103. The session law that inserted the NIL cross-reference is NO_RELIABLE_DATA - flagged, not guessed. Note the tension: MHSAA bans HS NIL contracts outright, while this act contemplates NIL representation for college-bound athletes.

Sources

Miss. SoS - Uniform Athlete Agent Act (compiled 2025 PDF) (January 1, 2025)
YOU MAY LOSE YOUR ELIGIBILITY TO COMPETE AS A STUDENT-ATHLETE IN YOUR SPORT UNLESS THIS CONTRACT IS SERVING AS A PUBLICITY RIGHTS AGREEMENT PURSUANT TO SECTION 37-97-103
Miss. SoS - Athlete Agent program page (July 19, 2026)

Change history

July 19, 2026 — Initial publication from primary-source research pass (statute text read directly; penalties quoted verbatim).

Not legal advice. This page documents publicly available rules and is not legal advice. Rules change, and associations do not always announce changes. Confirm anything you rely on with the governing association, your school compliance office, or your own counsel before acting.

Spot an error? Tell us and cite the statute.