The University of Wisconsin athletic department traditionally has been self-supporting financially, but that could change under a state legislative bill that also seeks an exemption from the Wisconsin Public Records Law.
A piece in the Feb. 18, 2026 issue of the Wisconsin State Journal covered the requests. According to the story:
Wisconsin would get $14.6 million annually from the state toward athletics facilities debt service under a measure that also would codify in state law name, image and likeness (NIL) policies already in place at the school.
The legislator who authored the bill, Rep. Alex Dallman (R-Markesan), and Wisconsin athletic director Chris McIntosh both said the money from the state is critical to maintaining 23 Badgers sports, including Olympic and women’s sports.
McIntosh said Wisconsin faces “terribly difficult decisions” if the bill’s funding doesn’t come through. He was adamant through the revenue challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and into last year that Wisconsin would avoid cutting sports, but he’s now sounding an alarm after revenue sharing with athletes started this fiscal year.
The bill was circulated for sponsorship by Dallman and Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R-Oostburg) last Monday afternoon and introduced last Tuesday before Wednesday’s public hearing. The committee voted unanimously to recommend approval, and it now is in the hands of the Rules Committee to schedule when it goes to the Assembly for a vote.
Dallman said the risk in not approving the financial boost and NIL regulations is the athletic department losing money and Badgers teams being uncompetitive.
He said the bill protects athletes from “predatory contracts,” and allows Wisconsin to contract with organizations to help athletes find NIL opportunities.
The $14.6 million toward maintenance costs allows Wisconsin to keep more of the revenue it generates, Dallman said.
Assembly Speaker Rep. Robin Vos (R-Rochester) told reporters last week he expects the chamber will finish its work by Thursday, Feb. 19. LeMahieu said a few months ago he planned for the Senate to meet at least once through March.
Wisconsin athletics has operated on a balanced budget, using donor funds where necessary to cover expenses. But the addition of revenue-sharing payments to athletes totaling $20.5 million this year has tightened things.
McIntosh told the committee that Wisconsin’s peer schools are spending $10 million to $20 million more than the revenue sharing amount to be successful in football. He didn’t say where those figures came from.
Wisconsin is in the minority of states in that it doesn’t have a law governing NIL rights and duties for college athletes. Assembly Bill 1034 formalizes many of the elements of the interim NIL policy that has been in place at Wisconsin since the NCAA allowed athletes to receive payments in 2021.
It would prevent Wisconsin system schools from enacting policies prohibiting athletes from profiting from their NIL or keeping them from hiring agents for NIL agreements. Third-party agreements would have to be disclosed, and they couldn’t be for athletic performance or endorsements of tobacco, alcohol or gambling products.
Wisconsin officials said the school is at a disadvantage in the NIL marketplace without a state law in place. Asked to clarify that disadvantage, a UW-Madison spokesperson said Badgers recruiting would be helped by players knowing there are “confirmed protections” for their right to enter NIL agreements.
Spokesperson John Lucas also said it was important for the university to codify that NIL agreements don’t make athletes university employees. That has been part of the debate about federal legislation on NIL that has stalled.
Public Records Law exemption?
Wisconsin also asked for an exemption from the state’s public records law for NIL agreements with athletes and documents whose disclosure could provide what university officials said was a competitive disadvantage for the athletic department.
UW-Madison Vice Chancellor for Legal Affairs Nancy Lynch said the public records exemption would allow the university to withhold documents without fear of lawsuits challenging denials of record requests. She said the university has cited federal student records laws in denying requests for NIL contracts, records related to payments to individual athletes and documents seeking records on NIL allocation.
Wisconsin had more than $130 million in athletic facilities debt at the end of June 2025, according to its annual audit. It listed more than $193 million in operating expenses for the fiscal year in its financial report to the NCAA.
It paid nearly $9.9 million in debt service toward facilities in the 2024-25 fiscal year.
The athletic department paused repayment of the remainder of a $20 million, interest-free loan from central campus stemming from a pandemic-related revenue shortfall in the 2020-21 school year. It has repaid only $4.33 million and isn’t scheduled to resume payments until the 2027-28 fiscal year. Lucas said the halt was to allow athletics “some temporary flexibility” as it adjusts to “upheaval” in college athletics.
The bill carves out $15 million in general purpose revenues per year from the state for Wisconsin schools to finance debt service instead of a formula currently on the books that allocates a portion of program revenues. Most of the money goes to UW-Madison, but there’s $200,000 for the Klotsche Center at UW-Milwaukee and $200,000 for an athletic facility at UW-Green Bay.
Wisconsin officials framed the money allocated in the bill as allowing the Badgers to maintain or increase support for Olympic and women’s sports. Only the football and men’s basketball teams bring in more money than they spend.
“We are the envy of many when it comes to success across our broad-based sports and our Olympic sport programs, and that is what I believe is at stake,” McIntosh said. “That is what I worry is at risk.”
