SB 1075

Name, image, and likeness rights for UW student athletes

The bill specifies certain rights and duties related to name, image, and likeness of University of Wisconsin System student athletes and athletic programs.

Under the bill, the Board of Regents of the UW System (board) may enter into agreements providing for the compensation of student athletes for use of their name, image, or likeness. Neither the board nor a UW System institution (institution) may adopt or enforce a policy that prohibits 1) the use of a student-athlete’s name, image, or likeness when the student athlete is not engaged in official team activities; or 2) the student athlete from obtaining professional representation relating to the use of the student-athlete’s name, image, or likeness.

The bill requires a student athlete to disclose each third-party agreement for the use of the student-athlete’s name, image, or likeness before the student athlete enters into the agreement. A student athlete may not enter into an agreement for the use of the student-athlete’s name, image, or likeness if 1) any provision of the agreement conflicts with a provision of an agreement of the board or a board, institution, or intercollegiate athletic program policy; or 2) the compensation for the use of the student-athlete’s name, image, or likeness is provided in exchange for athletic performance or endorsement of certain products or activities, including tobacco products, alcohol beverages, gambling, banned athletic substances, an illegal substance or illegal activity, or an activity proscribed by the board.

Under the bill, the board may enter into an affiliation agreement to facilitate opportunities for student-athletes to be compensated for use of their name, image, or likeness rights and for management of agreements and program revenue for the benefit of student athletes and the board.

The bill specifies that any person’s activity that compensates a student athlete for the use of the student-athlete’s name, image, or likeness may not be considered an act on behalf of the board if the person is a separate legal entity from the board and the board does not own or control the person.

The bill includes an exemption from the open records law for records in the custody of the board, an institution, or other formally constituted subunit of the board relating to 1) any term or detail of an agreement or proposed agreement for the use of a student-athlete’s name, image, or likeness; or 2) generation, deployment, or allocation of revenue generated by an intercollegiate athletic program that are the subject of reasonable efforts under the circumstances to maintain the secrecy of the records, when competitive reasons require confidentiality.

Debt service for athletic facilities maintenance costs

Under current law, a portion of program revenues that are appropriated for debt service on certain UW System facilities is allocated for the payment of 40 percent of the principal and interest costs for maintenance of UW–Madison intercollegiate athletic facilities. The bill eliminates that allocation and instead appropriates $14,600,000 annually in general purpose revenues to UW–Madison to finance debt service for such maintenance costs.

Additionally, the bill appropriates $200,000 annually in general purpose revenues to finance debt service for maintenance costs of the UW–Milwaukee Klotsche Center and $200,000 annually in general purpose revenues to finance debt service for maintenance costs of the UW–Green Bay soccer complex.