Legislation that would prevent the public from seeing what college athletes receive in a revenue share deal they have with their schools is moving closer to final legislative passage, as the House-approved bill has cleared the Senate Education Committee. The bill’s author, Lafayette Representative Themi Chassion, says if these financial deals are made public, it puts LSU and other Louisiana college athletic teams at a disadvantage.
“Quarterbacks making a million dollars, and it’s public knowledge? The next school just offers $1.5 million. And now they’re poaching, luring and enticing our star athletes away, and we don’t want that,” Chaisson explained.
Opponents of the legislation say revenue share deals are funded with public dollars and therefore should be public. It’s money the school is using to directly pay the player, which is different from NIL, which is a third-party source.
Attorney Scott Sternberg spoke in opposition. Sternberg represents three media outlets in a public records lawsuit against LSU that’s attempting to see the revenue share deals.
Sternberg says agents know what the players are making, so allowing the public to know how much a university is compensating a player is not putting the school at a competitive disadvantage.
“Ole Miss is not going to public records request how much we’re paying the quarterback and then pay the quarterback more. The quarterback’s going to tell Ole Miss how much he’s getting paid to make more,” Sternberg said.
Chassion, who has a daughter that played college basketball, says the revenue share contracts with schools should also remain private to protect the player from harassment.
“I don’t want to have to worry about my kid or my daughter, or someone’s kid or somebody’s daughter, knowing that that kid is now a millionaire and is subject to being targeted, harassed; people live and die with football,” Chaisson said.
Chassion’s bill is awaiting a vote on the Senate floor.
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