(The Center Square) — The Louisiana Senate voted 22-13 Tuesday to advance legislation backed by Louisiana State University that would shield records showing how public university athletic departments divide revenue-sharing payments among college athletes and individual sports.
A last-minute amendment was added to make the secrecy provision retroactive, meaning the bill could apply not only to future revenue-sharing records, but also to records already created or requested.
House Bill 608 by Rep. Tehmi Chassion, D-Lafayette, would still require public universities to disclose the total amount spent each fiscal year on athletics revenue sharing. But the bill would block disclosure of payments to specific athletes, allocations to specific sports or athletic programs, and records tied to negotiating athlete agreements.
That means the public could see the overall price tag of an athletics revenue-sharing program, but not how the money is divided among football, basketball, women’s sports or individual athletes.
The measure previously passed the House overwhelmingly, 91-4. The four votes against the bill came from Reps. Robby Carter, D-Amite; Wilford Carter, D-Lake Charles; Mandie Landry, D-New Orleans; and Edmond Jordan, D-Baton Rouge. The bill faced more resistance in the Senate, where 11 legislators from both parties voted against it.
Under current law, documents an athlete gives a school related to a name, image and likeness compensation contract are already confidential. HB 608 expands that protection to the broader revenue-sharing system, including agreements negotiated directly between schools and athletes.
The bill will make one more stop in the House to have the amendments approved before heading to Gov. Jeff Landry.
Chassion defended his bill as a protection for student athletes and added that the legislative auditor still has the authority to examine the books.
“No one should specifically know that a certain athlete is making $50,000, let alone $500,000. The mental worries, the anxiety, people targeting them,” Chassion said during committee debate. “If I’m a rival school, I’m just going to offer more money.”
