Midwest Cowboy
Well-known member
Wisconsin's legislature just fast tracked a bill that will (in summary) restructure the use of public money so that UW will be able to begin paying its athletes directly. The amount is about $14.5 million annually with the lion's share going ($13.5M) to UW (Madison) and $500K going to UW Green Bay and UW Milwaukee. No other state schools (and there are a lot) get anything. The bill declares that despite being paid by the UW system, athletes are not employees of the system and that the terms of any contracts (i.e. dollar amounts) shall remain private and not subject to FOIA.
There was almost no debate and passed state senate by 17-16. It now goes to Governor Evers who may or may not veto.
Regardless of what anyone thinks about NIL, having tax payers fund the program to make UW more competitive (you see where this is going in a conference dominated by Michigan and Ohio State...we need more, more, more...) is total BS. Secret contracts beyond the review of the public...unbelievable. There is so much waste in the UW system. And now tapping into taxpayers has got me sideways (especially since I hate the Badgers more than any team in the NCAA...yes, more than CSU). The thing that probably bothers me the most is the fast track without discussion (during a bunch of weather events and national news) and the secrecy.
I have no other information but its all over the news now that the vote occurred.
There was almost no debate and passed state senate by 17-16. It now goes to Governor Evers who may or may not veto.
Regardless of what anyone thinks about NIL, having tax payers fund the program to make UW more competitive (you see where this is going in a conference dominated by Michigan and Ohio State...we need more, more, more...) is total BS. Secret contracts beyond the review of the public...unbelievable. There is so much waste in the UW system. And now tapping into taxpayers has got me sideways (especially since I hate the Badgers more than any team in the NCAA...yes, more than CSU). The thing that probably bothers me the most is the fast track without discussion (during a bunch of weather events and national news) and the secrecy.
I have no other information but its all over the news now that the vote occurred.
