Louisiana legislators weigh hiding how public money is spent on college athletics

by Piper Hutchinson, Louisiana Illuminator
April 2, 2026

As state lawmakers call for increased transparency into university finances in Louisiana, a legislative committee has advanced a bill that would hide how much public money is being paid to college athletes. 

It would be the first public records exemption for public spending in Louisiana. 

No members on the House Education Committee objected Wednesday to advancing House Bill 608 by Rep. Tehmi Chassion, D-Lafayette, which would create a new public records exemption that would conceal how much public money universities pay directly to student athletes. The payments are allowed under new “revenue sharing” rules implemented after the NCAA settled a lawsuit last year brought by student-athletes seeking compensation. 

Revenue sharing is the process by which universities directly pay players, which is separate from name, image and likeness deals athletes enter into with private companies. These NIL records are already exempt from public disclosure.

Regardless of the source of the revenue, it is all public money. For each athletic department, it is a mix of self-generated revenue such as ticket sales, tax dollars and, for some, student fees. There are currently no exemptions in Louisiana law for sharing records with the public how state money is spent.

“It is important to remember these [revenue-sharing] agreements use public money,” Steven Procopio, president of the good government group Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana, said in an interview. His organization opposes the bill.

“Reasonable people can disagree on whether that is a worthy use of funds,” Procopio said. “There should be no debate that citizens have a right to see how their tax dollars — or any public money — is spent.”

Chassion said nearly every state university supports his bill, and the same schools have denied the Illuminator’s request for their revenue sharing records citing existing exemptions to public records disclosure in state law. The Illuminator, WAFB-TV and Tiger Rag are suing LSU over the denial of this request  

The move to hide how public money is being spent on college athletes comes as higher education officials acknowledge the detrimental impact athletics spending has had on campus budgets and as lawmakers call for increased scrutiny of university finances. 

Chassion’s bill also adds to lawmakers’ efforts in recent years to expand exemptions to Louisiana’s public records law, which exists to provide transparency into policy and spending decisions in state government and all of its offshoots, including higher education. Several pieces of legislation have been filed this year to create or widen public records exemptions. 

Rep. Barbara Carpenter, D-Baton Rouge, a dean at Southern University, said that although she believes the public has a right to know how public money is being spent, she plans to vote for Chassion’s bill when it comes up for a vote on the House floor. 

While LSU barely turns a profit on sports, the overwhelming majority of athletic departments in Louisiana are bleeding money. This includes the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, where its $10 million athletics deficit is a major contributing factor to the school’s nearly $50 million budget hole. The school has budgeted $726,000 for revenue sharing with its athletes this year. 

Chassion said revenue sharing, which began in the fall 2025 semester, is not a factor in the budget crises Louisiana’s universities face. 

In an interview, Louisiana Tech President Jim Henderson described having to strike “a delicate balance” between the public’s right to know how public funds are spent versus the ability of athletic departments to keep athletes’ pay confidential.

“For institutions that are trying to compete, certainly it’s understandable that we would not want to surrender that competitive advantage,” Henderson said. 

Chassion was joined in presenting his bill by Julie Cromer, LSU’s deputy athletics director. Athletics department leaders at Louisiana Tech and Nicholls State were also present. 

In addition to hiding how much is being paid to individual athletes, Chassion’s bill would conceal the total amount of revenue directed to teams. 

“It’s harder to defend that in terms of how much you’re putting into each individual sport … I’d be OK if that was taken out of the bill,” Henderson said. 

LSU has disclosed what percentage of its revenue sharing budget goes to football and its men’s and women’s basketball teams but not for the rest of its sports, including baseball. University of Louisiana System schools and Southern University have not disclosed any team-level data. 

Louisiana Illuminator is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: [email protected].