Louisiana universities are paying athletes. Should the public get to see who gets how much?

Weeks after journalists filed a lawsuit against LSU seeking records on how much it was paying athletes through revenue sharing, Louisiana lawmakers advanced a bill Wednesday that would carve out an exemption to public records law and make those payments — as well as amounts allocated to individual sports — confidential.

“These are safety protections when it comes to the student athlete,” Rep. Tehmi Chassion, D-Lafayette, who authored the bill, said.

Revenue sharing refers to funds paid to athletes directly out of athletics department budgets. The original bill, filed in late February, sought to make contracts with college athletes through a university’s revenue sharing program private.

But amendments added Wednesday went a step further, clarifying that dollar amounts and percentages of the pool of money allocated to specific athletes and individual sports would not be public record.

Legislators raised questions about the proposed law obfuscating how public funds are spent.

“This is really broad,” Rep. Beryl Amedee, R-Houma, said. “And I’m concerned that we’re expanding confidentiality so much that we’re losing necessary transparency.”

Separate from name, image and likeness deals, revenue sharing payments are public dollars, First Amendment expert and attorney Scott Sternberg said. Sternberg is representing the journalists suing for the records.

Sternberg also represents The Advocate | Times-Picayune in some legal matters. The newspaper is not a party to the lawsuit filed against LSU.

Following the House v. NCAA settlement in 2025 that allowed schools to pay athletes directly, Louisiana passed a law that raised the state tax on online sports betting to 21.5% and funneled a quarter of those proceeds to subsidize public universities’ athletics programs.

“We’re effectively saying, ‘Sorry, we know you passed this tax, but we’re not going to let you see where the revenue goes,’” Sternberg said. “In no other instance would that be OK.”

Chassion argued the exemption to public records law would protect student athletes from harassment. While presenting the amendments to the House Education Committee Wednesday, he frequently referenced his daughter, a walk-on guard for University of Connecticut women’s basketball in 2020-21.

“If my daughter happened to have made $50,000 from Insomnia Cookies as a member of the UConn women’s basketball team, I don’t want anyone knowing what she makes,” Chassion said. “It shouldn’t be public information.”

What the lawsuit seeks

As the bill heads to the floor, the 19th Judicial District Court will also hear a case concerning whether LSU’s revenue sharing payments belong to the public record.

Journalists Piper Hutchinson of the Louisiana Illuminator, Todd Horne of Tiger Rag and Chris Nakamoto of WAFB, represented by Sternberg, filed a suit in March against LSU arguing the payments are “textbook public documents."

“These revenue-sharing payments are made from funds comprised of Louisiana public dollars appropriated to and controlled by LSU,” the petition said. “They represent an expenditure of public funds by a public body and are quintessential public records.”

Reached for this story, LSU spokesperson Meg Sunstrom said the university cannot comment on pending litigation but referenced its comment when the suit was filed.

“LSU has not been served with the lawsuit but believes the records are exempt from public disclosure for various reasons,” the statement said. “Releasing this information puts LSU at a competitive disadvantage on the field and runs contrary to the privacy interest of our student athletes.”

The term “competitive disadvantage” was not used in the House Education Committee meeting Wednesday, with legislators instead emphasizing the point of athlete safety. Sternberg said that concern does not apply to other public salaries.

“The salary of every public employee in the state of Louisiana is a public record,” Sternberg said.

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