University of Wisconsin athletic director Chris McIntosh is urging state lawmakers to pass a college sports bill in the coming weeks or risk putting the state of Badger athletics in jeopardy.
“Either we will need to reevaluate our expectations on the success of our sports, or we will need to reevaluate how they’re supported or how many of them exist,” McIntosh said at a legislative hearing this month.
The bill currently under consideration codifies the university's ability to facilitate NIL deals for student-athletes, but it also has been somewhat controversial as it exempts such deals from public records requests.
According to The Capital Times, the bill outlines rules around NIL agreements for student-athletes and would give $14.6 million in state funding to UW-Madison each year toward anticipated debt service payments. The additional money would free up existing dollars that the athletics department could spend on generating NIL opportunities for student-athletes and preserving all 23 sports, particularly Olympic and women’s sports.
After passing the state Assembly last month on a 95-1 vote, legislators have days left to act on the bill. The Assembly has wrapped its scheduled floor votes before campaign season, and the state Senate plans to hold its last next week.
