The Washington Post spent months seeking documents from public universities that reveal how -- and how much -- college athletes earn from their “name, image and likeness,” or NIL, agreements.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/interactive/2024/nil-money-deals-…

In responding to The Washington Post's open records requests, Kentucky's largest universities issued conflicting responses.

The University of Louisville did not provide any records, "citing privacy laws and other factors."

The University of Kentucky "sent documents, though not all were useful."

"Although many states require athletes to disclose NIL deals, most schools fought The Post’s requests. But an analysis of roughly $125 million worth of deals offers a window into a hidden and often inequitable marketplace.

"The records reveal stark inequities in basketball, even as women’s basketball explodes in popularity. While women earn considerably less. The Post found they work harder for what they do earn, leveraging social media to maximize earnings.

"Twenty-four states require athletes at public universities to disclose NIL deals to their schools, making them potentially subject to an open-records search. Some schools in the other 26 states mandate that athletes disclose deals to their athletic departments, too. But every public school interprets its state’s laws differently, meaning information about an NIL deal that one school makes public may stay hidden by a school down the highway."

Kentucky's "Student-Athletes' Compensation, Agreements, and Contracts" is found at KRS 164.6941 - KRS164. 6951.

KRS 164.6947(7) governs disclosure of information relating to NIL agreements. It states:

"For the purposes of the Kentucky Open Records Act, KRS 61.870 to 61.884, an NIL agreement submitted to a public postsecondary institution and the information obtained from the agreement shall be considered as containing information of a personal nature where the public disclosure thereof would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy under KRS 61.878 and not subject to disclosure."

https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=52048

The Kentucky Open Government Coalition opposed passage of the NIL bill, Senate Bill 6, in 2022, observing:

"To the extent that SB 6 charges state universities with specific oversight duties, the Kentucky Open Government Coalition remains concerned about the public’s ability to oversee the overseers — to monitor, so to speak, the monitors — namely, state universities."

https://kyopengov.org/blog/kentucky-nil-bill-signed-law-questions-remai…

Based on its reporting on our state universities' conflicting responses to The Post's open records request, we can now add to our objections that the NIL bill is less than a model of clarity and invites conflicting interpretations.