SALT LAKE CITY — A proposal in the Utah Legislature would keep agreements college athletes sign for use of their name, image or likeliness (NIL) outside the reach of the state’s public records laws.
House Bill 202 also places restrictions on the deals athletes can sign, banning endorsements of tobacco, alcohol, gambling or sexually-oriented businesses. But Utah journalism organizations are blowing the whistle on a clause that says an NIL “agreement is not subject to” the Utah Government Records Access and Management Act, known as GRAMA.
“I haven't talked to any of the boosters,” said Rep. Jordan Teuscher, R-South Jordan, the bill’s sponsor. “I have talked to the universities, and I think they are in favor of excluding those as public records.”
Last year, the Deseret News asked for NIL contracts and related documents from public universities — the University of Utah, Utah State University, Weber State University, Utah Valley University and Southern Utah University.
“The public has a compelling interest in knowing how much money is flowing to the student-athletes who attend a public institution, who is paying that money,” said Jeff Hunt, an attorney for the Deseret News, “and what services the student-athlete is performing.”
Hunt, who also has represented FOX 13 over the years, said one of the things the Deseret News wanted to know was whether men were earning more NIL money than women. Reporters, Hunt said, also want to ensure athletes are actually performing services and not just collecting free money or being paid by the universities.
NIL deals typically are between the athletes and private businesses, but universities are supposed to review the agreements to ensure they comply with their guidelines and the NCAA’s.
“The universities just say, ‘Well, you should leave that up to us and trust that we're doing our job,’” Hunt said. “And that's not the way government works.”
The universities refused to release the records, saying the contracts were private and met the federal definition of education records.
In October, the Utah State Records Committee sided with the Deseret News. The committee ordered the contracts released.
The universities are challenging the order in state court.
“And instead of having the court go and try to interpret what the legislature meant long before NIL was even imagined,” Teuscher said, “I think it was important for the Legislature to come in and say explicitly, 'Here's what we think should this be a protected record or should it not.'”
Hunt contends the Legislature has already made the decision.
“The way that our open records statute (works) says there's not an exception in the statute for these records, then they're presumptively public,” Hunt said.
The Utah Transparency Project opposes the bill and has given it a “closed door” rating.
Senate President J. Stuart Adams, R-Layton, this week said he doesn’t like NIL, but worries disclosure would make it harder to recruit.
“When you’re an athlete and you have to come to Utah and disclose everything you do,” Adams said, “and you can go to Nevada and not do it, it puts you at a competitive disadvantage to try to attract athletes.”