CCFOI supports HB 6446, a bill regarding student athlete compensation agreements, but has a suggestion to improve it. CCFOI supports creating an FOIA exemption for these contracts so long as it only applies to keeping private the compensation details. However, CCFOI would not favor making confidential other records that aren’t directly related to payments or revenue-sharing agreements.
CCFOI also supports the provision of the bill that requires public colleges and universities to report the total revenue paid to student-athletes and how many athletes are receiving payments.
See Michele Jacklin’s full testimony below.
HB 6446, AN ACT CONCERNING STUDENT ATHLETE COMPENSATION THROUGH ENDORSEMENT CONTRACTS AND REVENUE SHARING AGREEMENTS
Higher Education and Employment Advancement Committee
January 30, 2025
Good Morning Sen. Slap, Rep. Haddad, Ranking Members Martin and Bronko and Honorable Members of the Higher Education and Employment Advancement Committee.
My name is Michele Jacklin and I am Legislative Co-Chair of the Connecticut Council on Freedom of Information. We are a 70-year-old organization comprised of CT news media outlets and First Amendment supporters. Our mission is to advocate for and promote government transparency, public access, a strong Freedom of Information law and other measures that guarantee the rights of individuals and journalists under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and the state Constitution.
CCFOI supports HB 6446 but has a suggestion to improve it. Our organization understands that the relationship between colleges and universities and their student-athletes has dramatically changed vis-a-vis the compensation that student-athletes are allowed to receive. This country has embarked on a new era in collegiate athletics and many of Connecticut’s student-athletes, particularly those playing at the Division I level, are now being paid handsomely for their athletic achievements. As such, they can legally earn money from endorsements and other business ventures involving their name, image and likeness.
Agreements that allow student-athletes to profit from their name, image and likeness through employment or endorsement contracts with a third party are already exempt from public exposure. HB 6446 would go a step further by allowing public institutions of higher learning to enter into revenue-sharing contracts with student-athletes while keeping the details of those contracts confidential. CCFOI supports creating an FOIA exemption for these contracts so long as it only applies to keeping private the compensation details. However, CCFOI would not favor making confidential other records that aren’t directly related to payments or revenue-sharing agreements.
CCFOI also supports the provision of the bill that requires public colleges and universities to report the total revenue paid to student-athletes and how many athletes are receiving payments. It would be helpful, however, if schools broke down the payments by team or gender and published the details on their websites so that the public could easily access the information. This would help ensure transparency and would go a long way in revealing how the funds are being distributed.
We appreciate that the bill’s proponents have clarified that the goal of the FOIA exemption is to protect the specific details of revenue-sharing agreements with student-athletes and not to block the public from seeing policies, investigations and other records related to how the agreements are put into place.
Thank you for your consideration.
Respectfully,
Michele Jacklin
CCFOI Legislative Co-Chair