This story was produced as part of the Colorado Capitol News Alliance. It first appeared at cpr.org.
The University of Colorado Boulder would be able to pay football players and keep the individual dollar amounts secret under a bill that passed a key committee vote Thursday in the state House of Representatives.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers on the House Education Committee advanced House Bill 1041 even as they continued to express concern about a provision of the measure exempting the contracts between players from public disclosure through the Colorado Open Records Act, known as CORA.
“CORA is a really important tool, along with public procurement law, to help the public understand how money is being spent from its public institutions,” Rep. Jennifer Bacon, D-Denver, said before casting a “no” vote on the bill, which passed 9-4 late Thursday.
CU Boulder representatives told lawmakers last week that they were concerned about releasing payment information involving students who are under intense scrutiny for how they play.
The bill would allow universities to pay players from any sport, though football is the most lucrative, for their name, image and likeness rights, otherwise known as NIL.
Colorado universities must pay players under a landmark antitrust settlement agreement in federal court, but current state law does not allow it.
Lawmakers who voted to move the bill out of the Education Committee on Thursday noted that the state’s hands are tied, they need to allow schools to pay athletes.
The legislature is under time pressure — in April, student athletes can apply for back pay for the use of their NIL rights in previous seasons.
“We also wanna make sure that we’re protecting the students’ private information,” said Rep. Matthew Martinez, D-Monte Vista. “I think this is a great first shot at this. Again I just feel like this is gonna be an ever-evolving thing, I’m happy to be a ‘yes’ today in order to make sure we at least have something on the books, and being able to be in compliance with what we need to do.”
The bill sponsor, Rep. Lesley Smith, D-Boulder, offered several successful amendments — one that would require disclosure of base contracts between players and the schools, but with names and financial information redacted. Another would require annual NIL spending reports from universities, including gender and sport-based spending in areas.
“The amendment includes a significant amount of information on NIL investments that the institutions have offered to help address feedback from the press and broadcasting associations,” Smith said.
But the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition said the amendments did not satisfy transparency issues related to specific payments to individual players. Payments that could be substantial — CU Boulder took in more than $60 million in the last fiscal year in football revenue alone.
“The bill still hides the spending of public funds when there should be scrutiny and accountability, especially when everything related to this issue is changing so rapidly,” Jeff Roberts, the executive director of COFOIC, said. “Making sure money is distributed equitably is one major reason why the terms of these contracts should be visible.”
CU Boulder told lawmakers last week in a hearing that the university was at a disadvantage because it’s a public institution subject to open records laws, and private universities would not have to disclose specific payments to players.
Still, the legislation passed out of committee, with the skeptical lawmakers expressing hope that more work can be done for transparency.
Rep. Anthony Hartsook, R-Parker, voted “no” on the bill over transparency concerns, while acknowledging that athletes should get paid.
“You should absolutely get paid for it, you should be compensated for what you’ve achieved athletically and academically, but then the public also has a right to know what that compensation is,” Hartsook said.
House Bill 1041 will next be debated before the full House.
This story was produced by the Capitol News Alliance, a collaboration between KUNC News, Colorado Public Radio, Rocky Mountain PBS, and The Colorado Sun, with support from news outlets throughout the state. Startup funding for the Alliance was provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.